Project Titan
by Marika
Summary: A very big AU, where the boys raised by the Alliance - warning, the main character is not one of the G-boys.
1. Prologue

{{TRANSCRIPT OF DIALOGUE FROM BASE 231.8  
STATUS: SECURITY LEVEL 1  
DATE: 21.12.06  
TOPIC: PROJECT TITAN: STATUS: CLASSIFIED LEVEL 1  
  
A: Damn her! Half of the babies are female! They're useless for our purposes!  
  
  
B: Did the good doctor make any other changes that we were unaware of?  
  
  
A: Not that we know of, but she was executed, so we'll never know.  
  
  
B: How about Dr. Yallis, the one who failed to note that half of the fetuses were female? What does he know about it?  
  
  
A: He was also executed for his failure.  
  
  
B: Damn. As always, I agree with the course of action, but sometimes I think that the brass is a little too quick about executing offenders. He might have had valuable information.  
  
  
A: Be careful. It's talk like that that will get you executed.   
  
  
B: I know. But all it means is that she had any number of opportunities to make other changes to the fetuses that we don't know about, and now our ability to find those changes, if there are any, is severely limited.  
  
  
A: There are always the gene sequences.  
  
  
B: But that could take years!  
  
  
A: Do you have a better idea?  
  
  
B: No. I'll get a team started right away. What will we do with the females?  
  
  
A: I already have orders to dispose of them. I passed them on this morning.  
  
  
B: Too bad. They could have been remarkable case studies. Also, Richard will be furious. He's a lot like Karen was, sometimes.  
  
  
A: Too much like her. They're retiring him, taking him off this project.  
  
  
B: Is he going to be executed?  
  
  
A: No, but they have suspicions he knew about the changes Karen made. They'll just pack him off to a cottage somewhere to write his memoirs.  
  
  
B: What a waste.}}  
  
  
------------  
  
  
Four years after that discussion, the daughter of Jules Krace, a well-known ambassador from Earth, sits at a computer, creating a false identity for herself, to use on her college application. There has been thought that there might be a danger to her if she attended college like everyone else, because of her father's position, so she will be attending under an assumed name, and only through satellites. None of her teachers or fellow students will ever see her face, and she will never physically attend a class. It's much safer that way.  
  
She finishes filling out the information for the ID that the guards will make for her. She's filled in all of her own information, except for a few vital details. She changes her height well over a foot upwards, to conceal her small size, and lists her place of birth as a colony on the moon, instead of her real home, which is the main domed colony on Centari. There's no way to disguise the fact that she was born on a colony, instead of Earth, as she has the same albino coloring as all of the colonists, made that way through genetic engineering several generations earlier.   
  
Rina scrolls back up to the top of the page and silently goes through the information, checking to make sure that it is all correct. She graduated with honors from another satellite school, this one for high-schoolers, only a few weeks earlier. The dates show that she entered that school less than a year ago. Only one year for high school, not very realistic. She quickly edits the dates so that it shows that she entered that school four years ago, instead of one. Turning to another computer beside her, she quickly makes the changes in the school's records, as well. She hacked into their system minutes earlier, in case this came up. Once all of the data has been changed, she turns back to the first computer. Let's see, chosen major... social movements and governing, a possible minor in math... The rest of the information checked out satisfactorily, with one major exception.  
  
She highlights the box where she'd typed in her actual age. This won't work. They'll never believe I've been in school for four years. A slow smile spread across her face, and she deliberately types a '2' in front of the '4' she'd already written. There we go. Add another twenty years, and this works. She quickly fixes the birth date to match the new age she'd just given herself, and then sends the data off to her father's secretary. He will see that the data was turned into a new ID and sent immediately to the college she had chosen to attend.   
  
Then she jumps down off the raised seat that had been placed in front of the computer so she could reach it, and runs to the front door. She doesn't like to let anyone know how different she is, and she has to hurry or she'll be late getting to her preschool.  
  
  
  
  
This was more of a teaser than a first chapter. I'll get the next section up soon, I promise. 


	2. Part 1

{{TRANSCRIPT OF DIALOGUE FROM BASE 231.8  
STATUS: SECURITY LEVEL 1  
DATE: 26.03.10  
TOPIC: STATUS REPORT ON SUBJECTS  
  
  
A: Their progress is astonishing, even considering what they are.  
  
  
B: You sound surprised. You shouldn't be - we designed them, after all. They're just fulfilling their design specifications.   
  
  
A: I know, but it's still disturbing, to talk to them, and hear them say the things they do. They're still a few years from full operational capability, but command is already using the ideas that they're coming up with. It's astonishing to think what their capabilities will be later, if just in the test phase they're already coming up with ideas we can use.   
  
  
B: So? They were built to be geniuses, to be instantly aware. Command never wanted them to be kids, so they were born more mature than most adults. It's a sign of our success that they are able to function so well.  
  
  
A: I know, but still... Did you hear that Five's defense system for Command Central has been accepted and will be put into operation?  
  
  
B: I heard. It was an excellent system, although all of their designs were superior to what's in place now. What's wrong with that?  
  
  
A: Nothing. It's just... When I saw the vid of his report, with that little face describing the different ways that people can be killed, in case of a breech... don't you think it's creepy?  
  
  
B: No. That's just efficiency. I don't understand you... they're everything we designed them to be, and now that's making you uneasy.  
  
  
A: It was different when we were designing them, then it was just gene sequences on a page, now that I'm staring at the... the things we've created, I'm not sure. They're not even human.  
  
  
B: They weren't supposed to be. Humans might feel sorrow, pity, or regret - they won't. They look harmless, but once their training is complete, they'll kill without mercy. Combat training begins in a few weeks, you know.  
  
  
A: I know. They've already got the equivalent of multiple masters degrees in a number of useful subjects, as well as all having training in the arts, although only with material that Command felt was appropriate. They should be able to fit in anywhere they want to be, or rather, anywhere we station them.  
  
  
B: Four's reaction to some of the music was funny.  
  
  
A: Funny? He looked like he was going to cry.  
  
  
B: He'll be cured of that, I just didn't think that the music meant anything.  
  
  
A: It was beautiful, some of the best composition ever to come out of Earth. I don't view his emotions in that case as a weakness.  
  
  
B: Well Command does. He is to be cured of that in the next few weeks, before combat training begins.  
  
  
A: Michael won't be happy with that. I think he's really developing an affection for them.  
  
  
B: Michael is no longer our problem.  
  
  
A: What?!   
  
  
B: He is no longer part of our organization.  
  
  
A: Since when?! He's just an assistant, but he's been invaluable to me. What has he done to warrant dismissal?  
  
  
B: Nothing. Command didn't dismiss him. He's disappeared.  
  
  
A: What?  
  
  
B: I've heard that he may have joined the rebels in the colonies. He was always opposing the way we trained them, especially the emotional blocks. Command has been trying to find him, to eliminate him, but so far they haven't had any luck.  
  
[SILENCE]  
  
You know he's a great danger to the project. He doesn't know much about the genetics, but he does know what they look like and what they can do. I'd be careful, or you might be considered to be the same sort of danger he is.  
  
  
A: I'll be careful. I just think we should be careful with them - a lot of damage could be done if we misstep. You know about the changes we've found that Karen made. If they find out...  
  
  
B: How would they find out? Less than a dozen people know about it, and they're all above suspicion. Unlike Michael. Maybe their first true mission will be to find and destroy Michael.  
  
  
A: All I'm saying is that we should be careful. We're playing God here.  
  
  
B: We have the right. I never heard that the old boy had a copyright on creation.  
  
  
[NOTE: due to increasing emotional instability, it was later found to be necessary to eliminate 'A' to preserve the integrity of the project]}}  
  
  
----------  
  
  
One stared with interest at the screens in front of him. On it were the results of sensors attached to Four's head. For fifty-seven minutes now, there'd been no change in the waves that represented his thought patterns. Now his enhanced eyes detected a slight change even before the computers could pick it up. "It's changing - Four's breaking," One told Mem, and moved to the console that would release his comrade from the chamber where he was being trained. They were all taking their turns, teaching themselves to withstand that sort of torture. Mem had said that they all had to be able to last at least an hour in the chamber without breaking, so far One was the only one to have reached that level, but Four was almost there now. Each time he entered the chamber, he lasted a little bit longer than the previous time before his brain waves started to change, a sure sign that he was about to break.  
  
"No, not yet," Mem told him, his eyes fixed on the screen that displayed the interior of the chamber.  
  
One frowned ever so slightly, then remembered to wipe the expression off of his face. What was Mem trying to do? Exposure after those first changes could have permanent detrimental effects on Four's mind.   
  
A minute slowly passed, and Four's brainwaves grew more and more erratic. It would be obvious to anyone who walked in now that there was something seriously wrong now. One stared at the screens, his hands hovering uncertainly above the controls, unsure of where his duty lie. They had been instructed to act to preserve themselves and each other if necessary from damage, so that they could continue to serve the Alliance and people, but he also had a duty to obey Mem at all times. As the seconds continued to pass, he asked, "Sir?"  
  
"I gave you an order, One. You will obey." Mem was still staring at the screen, watching Four as he huddled in the center of the chamber, covering his head with his arms. One knew from experience that it would do him no good, but also that it was almost impossible to convince your mind and body that when you were inside. The lights were so bright that they could be easily seen even through closed eyes, and the screeching noises were enhanced with subsonics that grated on the ears. And, of course, there were other, more subtle elements.   
  
As Four passed fifty-nine minutes, the com beeped, and One heard Three's voice. "He's reached the level, One. Pay attention," there was a hint of rebuke in his voice, and a sharp edge. "Get him out of there."  
  
Mem casually reached over to the com, never taking his eyes off the screen. There was a pleased expression on his face, and he was smiling to himself as he said, "One's obeying my orders, Three. Leave Four in there until I say otherwise." There was a long silence on the com, and finally Mem glanced down at it and said, "Is that understood, Three?" There was a dangerous element in his voice, for all that it had been exceedingly pleasant. Three should have responded immediately.  
  
"Yes sir."  
  
"Time now?" Mem asked, returning his gaze to the screen. There was a strange, intense expression on his face, as if he was enjoying Four's discomfort. No, that couldn't be it, he was merely glad to be performing his duty to the Alliance in training them. That had to be it.  
  
"Fifty-nine minutes, forty-eight seconds," One responded automatically, watching the now wildly erratic brainwaves. Then he noticed a slight blip on another monitor, one that was registering a part of the brain that he'd never seen active before. There was only the slightest flash, then it was gone, so quickly that even he wasn't sure he'd seen it. But in the next five seconds Four's brain waves became markedly less erratic, almost getting close to normal again. A minute passed, then another, and another. At sixty-four minutes Four's brainwaves swerved dangerously again.   
  
Finally Mem said, "Enough."  
  
Instantly One reacted, shutting off the various aspects of the chamber and opening the doors to allow the others in. Now he looked at the screen, and saw that Three had to lift Four off the ground and carry him out of the chamber.  
  
Mem noticed him watching the screen. "You wondered why I held Four to go last," he said with a knowing smile. "I was pleased with your performance today." One felt a surge of pleasure that he had served the Alliance well, but it was somewhat dampened by his concern for Four. Mem noticed that, as well. "Four has not been permanently damaged," he noted. "He has been showing some... distressing tendencies lately, which must be eliminated immediately. There are some who are questioning his dedication to the Alliance."  
  
One sucked in his breath. "No sir!" he blurted out, horrified by the thought.  
  
"I didn't give you leave to speak," Mem reminded him.  
  
One pressed his lips together and remained silent until Mem nodded his approval and gave One permission to speak. "Four would never do anything but his best for the Alliance," One said.  
  
Mem sniffed. "Perhaps. But there are parts of his attitude that need correcting. See to it that it never happens with you."  
  
"Yes sir."  
  
  
-----------  
  
  
Three years after she transmitted her original application, Rina sat amidst a number of computer screens. On one of them were a series of diplomas from various colleges, confirming her masters and doctorate degrees in a number of fields, ranging from diplomacy to medicine to military history. She'd flown through the required courses and had completed all of her schooling in three years, instead of the usual six or eight that most people took. Now, although she still attended school and was officially in second grade, her attention was drawn to other matters.   
  
On the second screen was a medical report, and below that, the result of a blood analysis, right down to a genetic scan. On the third screen was a news article about a terrorist attack on a school made by the rebels in the colonies, and below that, another sheet with information on that same attack, written from a different perspective.   
  
As Jules walked up behind her, he knew that she was aware of his presence. Without removing her eyes from the screen with the blood test on it, she said, "Hello, father." The screen was simply running through the entire report, all thirty pages of it, at a rate of a page every eight seconds. He knew that this morning she'd already read several large books on genetics after her first reading told her very little because she didn't understand the terminology used.  
  
"Hello." He waited patiently for the report to finish screening. When it did, she turned to look at him, and he continued. "How are you feeling?"  
  
"I'm fine."  
  
"Are you sure?"  
  
"I'm positive. I'm going to stay out of school for a few weeks, though. Word spread very quickly about my accident, and it will look strange if I return to school immediately."  
  
"I've already arranged for your homework to be sent here. I had to agree to hire a tutor for the month that you'll be out, though." He sighed. "It was the best I could do. They were going to send a tutor from the school."  
  
"You're qualified to tutor me," Rina said thoughtfully. "It's only addition and subtraction and a little bit of the alphabet. Tell them you helped me keep up, and then I won't have to waste my time with a tutor. I'll do the homework before I go to bed tonight."  
  
He nodded, looking not at all surprised to hear his seven-year-old daughter talking this way. He had known for years that there was something very special and different about his adopted daughter, and had helped her hide her unique talents for the first few years, so that she wouldn't find herself the subject of a study, until she took responsibility for that chore. Aside from asking for his people to procure fake identification for her occasionally (and she hadn't done that in over a year - he didn't want to know what she was doing about it now) she never asked or needed any help.   
  
She was brilliant - her IQ scores were literally off the chart, and as far as they could tell, she had a perfect memory - she never forgot anything she saw, heard, or thought. She could and had described in great detail the man who brought her to the orphanage when she was just a few weeks old, and hadn't forgotten anything since then. But beyond that, she was mature. She'd never gone through the normal stages a child went through, never cried because she was frightened, and never asked her father about the realities of life. The only thing she'd ever come to him with was confusion about how different she was, when she realized it, at the age of two. He hadn't had any answers for her, other that to tell her that he loved her.   
  
He'd long since resigned himself to the fact that she'd never turn to him for reassurance because a boy had laughed at her, never hear the sound of juvenile laughter echoing through the halls of his home. Rina had few friends, and got together with them only often enough so that she didn't gain the attention of the school psychologists for anti-social behavior. She was so far beyond her classmates, both intellectually and emotionally, that she viewed them as children and not contemporaries. Her father and his colleagues were her contemporaries, and even so, he retained no illusions that he or any other person he'd met could keep up with her intellectually. It left her isolated, but there wasn't much he or she could do about it. She couldn't help it that she was so different, and trying to get along with her classmates, trying to understand their arguments and play and childish ambitions, that only frustrated her.   
  
The only thing he could do for her was talk to her. He was intelligent, and could have gone into any field he wanted, so he was able to converse intelligently with her on a number of topics, so that she remained healthy emotionally. He saw right away how easy it would be for her to become so isolated that she started thinking of herself as something more than other people, and to lose her sense of morality, so he encouraged her to study philosophy in her free time, and spent many hours debating her findings. So far, it seemed to be working, and she had a strong moral compass that guided her at all times, making it possible for her to live a life full of deception without allowing the lies that protected her to be a guide for the way she conducted the rest of her activities. Still, he worried, and whenever she asked to talk to him, he always managed to make time.   
  
His wife had died almost immediately after he adopted Riana, so aside from a few of the servants and the doctor who treated her, he was the only one she could really talk to. He worried about this, too, and had suggested that she try to find someone else, but as far as he knew, she hadn't done anything about his suggestion.   
  
"I'll do that. What are you looking at?"  
  
"My medical records, blood work, and I'm researching the terrorist attack on the school."  
  
"That was horrible," he said, scanning the article. He didn't know where, but she'd managed to find some rather graphic pictures of the school, or what was left of it. There were pieces of bodies everywhere, and many of them belonged to children. He shuddered, imagining one of the bodies to be Rina's. Despite all of her peculiarities, she was his daughter, and he loved her dearly.   
  
"Yes, it was," she said in a soft voice that also sounded a little strained.   
  
"I am supposed to keep relations between the Alpha colony and Earth calm, but when I see things like this, it makes me want to leave the colonies to fend for themselves. The Rebels must be monsters... I can see where they'd be frustrated by the way the Earth controls the colonies, but resorting to such barbarism to convey their message..."  
  
"The Rebels didn't do it," she said in an even softer voice. He glanced down at her round face. She was a native of the colonies, so had the albino coloring all colonists shared. White hair, pale skin, and eyes so light a blue as to appear almost totally white, she looked almost ghostlike in the dark room, illuminated by the light from the computer screens. Even at seven, while she still had some baby fat on her, it was clear that she would grow into a beauty.  
  
"What? It says here that the Rebels are taking responsibility for the bombing, and that such attacks will continue until Earth allows the colonies some independence."  
  
"It was a set up. The Rebels had nothing to do with it, but it was made to look that way so that the Rebels would lose sympathy with the general public."  
  
"How do you know this?" Jules asked, horror tingeing his voice. This was the first time he'd ever heard of something like this, but now that he thought about it, he could very easily see the Earth Alliance setting up the Rebels like that. They were both a political and military organization, and utilized both aspects of that power. While the military repressed the colonists, the political organization was busy churning out propaganda to convince the colonists that all of this was in their best interest. He had spoken out against the repression on occasion, because he saw the results of it every day in the colonies, but it was a dangerous thing to talk about - more than one politician's career had been suddenly cut short when they tried to push for less interference in the colonies. So it was easy to imagine the propaganda machine pretending to be the Rebels so they could be blamed for all manner of mischief, but he would never have imagined that they would go so far as to kill that many innocents in order to change public opinion.   
  
On the other hand, he had never known Rina to make a mistake like this.  
  
"I hacked into the Earth Alliance's main computer." The casual tone of her voice belied the impossible nature of the statement she had just presented. The Earth Alliance's main computers were supposed to be perfectly guarded against intruders of any kind. "They set up the entire thing through some secret project. I can't get in there - yet - but whoever did this was good. They researched the types of explosives the Rebels usually use, and the message was sent along the exact same channels that the Rebels use to deliver messages. Whoever it was even informed a news crew of the event just minutes before it took place, so the news crew beat the military police and emergency rescue crews to the site. That's how they managed to get so many pictures before the police arrived. It guaranteed that there would be high exposure of how horrible the devastation actually was. Very good."  
  
"Are you sure about this?"  
  
"Positive. Look." She turned the screen to face him, and he saw that it was indeed from the Earth Alliance's computer, with the words 'TOP SECRET' in bold scrawled across the top. It said that something called Project Titan had been used to set up the bombing, but that all of the actual work had been done by agents in another sector. What followed was a detailed description of all the steps taken to ensure the bloodiest strike in order to enrage the public, and how the Rebel transmission was faked.   
  
Suddenly he felt sick to his stomach, and sat down in a chair. "They attacked a school in order to make people hate the Rebels..." he muttered, ideas on what he could do flashing through his mind. He couldn't just go on living with this information and not do anything about it. He was remembering other things, rumors he had discounted as false, rumors about brutal actions by the military against the colonies who had dared to protest openly. He'd always thought that the Alliance had excesses, but he'd always thought that those excesses were explained by the fact that they were fighting the Rebels, who were known to be bloody and without restraint. Now he wondered if they were as bloody as he'd always believed, wondered how many of the brutal, savage acts that had been blamed on the Rebels had been set up by the Alliance, in order to justify their excesses.   
  
"You can't do anything," Rina said, tears running down her face as she seemed to read his mind. "If you try to go public, they'll intercept the transmission and arrest you. You can't tell anyone, because sooner or later it will get back to them and then they'll kill you. They've done it before."  
  
"I have to do something!"   
  
"I... I may be able to help the Rebels," she said, staring at her hands. Jules saw immediately what she was proposing.  
  
"They'd never trust you," he said softly. "First of all, you're seven. And you're my daughter. I work for the Earth Alliance..." he trailed off, wondering if he could continue to work for them, now that he knew what he knew.  
  
"You have to keep working for them," she said. "If you quit, they'll wonder why. The people here, they don't trust you, but they do think that you're not trying to hurt them. The Rebels won't trust me, but I have no intention of ever meeting them. Their security is worse than the Alliances - I can break in easily and leave a message for them."  
  
"Saying what?"  
  
"I could warn them. The Alliance is planning a strike tomorrow night at one of the places they store weapons and supplies. If I warn them now, they could evacuate the place in time."  
  
Jules was silent. He knew, had known, for some time that whatever field his daughter finally decided to apply herself to would benefit greatly, and that that gain would be the loss of any other field she considered. She had a very well rounded education now, and could do anything she wanted. He'd always been careful to keep her out of his politics, not wanting to influence her choice in what she wanted to do. Now it seemed that it hadn't made a difference. "Are you sure this is what you want to do? As soon as you knowingly contact the Rebels without informing the government, you become a criminal. If anyone ever found out, I wouldn't be able to protect you. You can't ever go back from a decision like this." If she were anyone else, he would have been horrified about a child making a decision like this, but Rina wasn't and had never been a child. She knew what she was getting into.  
  
"Actually, I've already broken the law by getting into their computer system. And yes, I am sure. I've been doing some research about the Rebels, and about the Alliance. There are things they've done..." she broke off for a moment, blinking away tears. "I know that I should never hurt people because I'm stronger, but this isn't about hurting people. This is about helping the colonists, and to do that I have to attack the Alliance. I... I am your daughter, but I am also a colonist."  
  
"I would never want you to think that you being my daughter means that you have to condone the actions of the Alliance. I can't condone them, and..." he cut himself off. Rina had been right when she said nothing would be accomplished by his resignation. The Rebels would certainly never trust him, and the chances of him being able to change anything from Earth were slight, once his reputation was destroyed, and he could be sure that the propaganda artists would take care of that.   
  
"Thank you, father." She got up out of her chair, wrapped her arms around his neck, and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "I love you. You're the best father a person could have. I have to do this. The Alliance is wrong - the colonies are ready for independence, and the colonists are my people. They deserve freedom, and I want to help them. Do you understand?"  
  
"If you ever need anything, just ask." He knew that the chances of that were slight, but he wanted her to understand that now that he knew the truth, he would support any actions she might take against the Alliance. He would do his best to protect those in the Alpha colony, as he always had, this time knowing the truth, but he couldn't take any overt action. His daughter, his brilliant daughter would be able to help the Rebels directly though, even if they never saw her.   
  
"Thank you," she gave him another kiss, then slid back into her seat. She turned to the screen that still displayed her diplomas and cleared it. "It may take a while to hack into their system," she murmured to herself, then suddenly looked up. "Father?"  
  
Jules, who had been about to leave her, paused. "Yes?"  
  
"There is something you could do. I need to learn how to protect myself." Her eyes assumed a faraway look for a moment, and he wondered what she was planning for the future. "I need to have someone to teach me how to use a gun, and how to fight without one."  
  
"I'll start looking for someone we can trust right away."  
  
"Actually, I have someone in mind, but you'll have to contact them. Can you do that?"  
  
He nodded. "Give me the name, and I'll contact them first thing tomorrow morning."  
"Thanks." She turned back to the screen, her hands immediately flying across the keys.  
  
  
  
Well, there's the first part, and there were the boys. There will be more of them in the next section, I promise! 


	3. Part 2

{{TRANSCRIPT OF DIALOGUE FROM BASE 231.8  
STATUS: SECURITY LEVEL 1  
DATE: 20.5.13  
TOPIC: PROJECT TITAN: STATUS: CLASSIFIED LEVEL 1  
  
  
A: I've wanted to talk to you about the way you're training the boys.  
  
  
B: They aren't boys, any more than a robot is. They're an artificial life form - I don't understand why you continually fail to understand that.  
  
  
A: I am corrected. At any rate, I have some concerns. The emotional training seems to be taking well, and none of them suspect anything, but I'm not convinced this latest technique of yours is a good idea.  
  
  
B: What, specifically, is the problem?  
  
  
A: Well, for starters, you're turning them into idealists.  
  
  
B: I don't see the problem.  
  
  
A: I know you're not as stupid or naïve as you sound. We all know why we joined the Alliance, and it wasn't because we wanted to help people.  
  
  
B: Maybe it wasn't for you! I, on the other hand...  
  
  
A: Lay off the act! It's bad enough to listen to you spouting that nonsense to the boys... excuse me, subjects, but I won't listen to it myself. You joined the Alliance because they had the most money with which to fund your experiments, and the power to force other scientists to help you. The Alliance does not exist 'to protect the people' or whatever other ridiculousness you've been telling the subjects. The Alliance exists to protect the status quo - us in power. Now why on earth are you telling them otherwise?  
  
  
B: I want them to believe that they're acting for a noble cause.  
  
  
A: Why?!  
  
  
B: It's a well-documented fact that extremists, men on religious or ethical quests, push themselves to lengths that a normal man could not. When would you fight harder, for a religious belief or because it was your job?  
  
  
A: I don't see how this relates to them. They've been told - they believe that they're not human.  
  
  
B: But we've left them enough emotions that they have a longing to be human. It's impossible, of course, but by acting as if they had emotions, as if they had empathy for humans - in fact, by acting to protect humans - it makes them feel as if they were human, or at least that they have some humanity.  
  
  
A: So you're saying that while we're convincing them that they're not human, we're also trying to convince them that they want to be human?  
  
  
B: That's about it.  
  
  
A: That's twisted, and dangerous. It's a fine line you're walking. And if they ever find out the truth about the Alliance...  
  
  
B: How would they do that? We're training them to be so loyal to the Alliance that if anyone ever tried to tell them the truth, they'd never believe it anyway. We just keep telling them that we teach them everything in order so that they can be stronger, serve the Alliance better, and thus serve the people. All of their information comes through us - we can tell them anything we want about the people we want them to kill, about the things we want them to do, and they have to believe us. Simple.  
  
  
A: Just be careful.  
  
  
B: Is that all you know how to say? Why is it that every time I report to you, you tell me to be careful?  
  
  
A: Why is it that every time I hear your report I feel that this whole thing is going to become one big nightmare that I'm going to have to clean up? Stop making me feel that way, and I'll stop telling you to be careful.}}  
  
  
---------------  
  
  
One stood in front of the wooden panel. It was built to simulate a heavy wooden door, the expensive kind that some of the wealthiest colonists had imported from Earth. He held himself in perfect readiness, looking completely relaxed but ready to move at an instant's notice. His eyes were fixed on the panel, but his attention was focused on a light across the room. He stared at it without seeming to, watching it out of the corner of his eye.  
  
It flashed only once, for one one-hundredth of a second, but before a tenth of a second had passed, he had driven his hand through the panel. He ripped the 'door' off it's hinges in the next second, casually tossing it aside. He stiffened into a properly attentive position as the door to the small room opened and Mem came walking in. "Satisfactorily done, One," Mem said, looking at a data pad. "Your response time was point oh-oh-three-two seconds. You even shaved some time off your last attempt."  
  
One didn't respond, continued staring straight ahead. That had been one of the first things they taught him, how to stand properly when he was waiting for orders. Discipline was important, they said. If he and the other subjects didn't have discipline, they could never serve the Alliance perfectly.   
  
Mem watched him, and a pleased expression appeared on his face. "Very good, One. Excellent discipline. Now follow me." He turned and left the room. One followed him, not letting his discipline relax in the slightest. He marched forward, eyes straight ahead, although he took note when the other four experiments marched out of the other rooms and fell into line behind him. He watched them as long as he could without moving his eyes or head, and was generally satisfied with their behavior. He noticed Three's eyes flick up and down the line once, and there was the barest hint of a smile playing around the edges of Two's mouth, but other than that, *their* discipline was fine. But Four... if he had been human, One would have frowned. There was nothing obviously wrong about his discipline, but there was something... not right about the way he behaved. There was a... a haunted look about him, something in the eyes.  
  
One considered the matter as they marched down the featureless hall, trying to reason out Four's actions logically. It was true that even after they'd finished their training in the chamber he still seemed to spend a lot of his time there, usually because of Mem's orders. That might account for it... Again One paused as he came across something he didn't understand. Mem did what he did out of loyalty to the Alliance, in order to protect the colonists. Surely Four saw that, so why would that account for the impression of a hunted animal?  
  
Try as he might, One could come up with no logical explanation for Four's behavior, and he was forced to drop the thought as they entered one of the many teaching rooms. Without prompting he and the others stood beside each of the five desks, then sat down at a nod from Mem. One fixed his eyes on the instructor. They had been coming to him every day for four weeks now. The man was a gifted spy, and had been teaching them how to imitate the mannerisms of humans, so that they could move among them at will, if necessary. Mostly he had concentrated on how human children acted, for obvious reasons, and would be back later on to teach them more nuances of adult behavior when they appeared that way. For now, their basic training was over, and today there would be a test of some sort.   
  
They had not been told the man's name, nor had they been given one to use. The reason for this was that he went by whatever character he was playing at the moment, and sometimes he had forced them to guess what character that was by mannerisms alone, so that they would learn to notice and identify them. In this way they learned what they had to imitate in order to appear human.   
  
"All right. Today you will each be given a role to play, and then we will go to a point off base, where you will interact with humans, of many different ages, none of whom will know who you truly are. Your instructions are simple - interact with them for several hours without revealing anything. It should be simple, given what I've taught you. If anyone suspects you of anything, if you even stand out from the crowd in any way, you will be punished. Are there any questions?"  
  
Silence met him, although One could feel the excitement of his companions. He felt some of it himself. In the seven years since they had been created, none of them had ever traveled off-base before, nor had they ever met any humans not connected with the project. Human children in particular would be very useful to observe, since that was what they most resembled. But One's excitement ran deeper than that - once he passed this test, he would be one step closer to becoming operational, getting to the point where he could truly serve the Alliance.   
  
  
-------------  
  
  
Four sat absolutely still in his seat in the back of the shuttle. They couldn't see out, but he knew that they had been brought somewhere inside the dome of Alpha colony, and that now they were headed back out to the base. Without moving his eyes, he sneaked a glance at Mem.  
  
Mem was staring at him, a thoughtful expression on his face, occasionally frowning to himself. It was strange to see him in a suit instead of his usual white coat, but that peculiarity didn't remove any of the sense of dread from Four. Something had happened at the gathering they had been brought to, he didn't know what yet, but he'd done something wrong, and that meant he would be punished. He wasn't quite successful at hiding the shudder that ran through him at the thought of that. What had he done?  
  
The gathering had been unlike anything he had ever seen, humans in bright colored clothing moving around a decorated room while music, real music, played all around them. It had been a party of some sort, and he recognized a number of the adults present as members of the Alliance. Worthy people, then. Despite his training, Four had been thoroughly enjoying himself, although that might have been because he had successfully sunk into the character he was playing so that no one suspected he wasn't human. It was nice to have a name, even if it was just while I was playing a character, he thought wistfully.   
  
He'd gotten along with all of the human children, and even had a few short discussions with the adults, without any of them ever realizing that he was much more intelligent than they were. There had been a woman and a man, standing close together and discussing something, when he had literally stumbled into the man's leg, being careful to ration his strength so that he didn't hurt the man and give himself away. Human children were clumsy creatures, it seemed. Four's action was completely deliberate, however, he was studying the different human responses. Two had tried the same trick a few minutes ago on another human and had been scolded. Four got a different response.  
  
The man looked down at him in annoyance, then that expression softened as he noticed the child. "Watch out there, little man," he said with a gentle smile that caused something inside Four to ache. Four firmly pushed that... whatever it was... away. He smiled playfully up at the man, who he recognized to be an ambassador from Earth. "What's your name?"  
  
"Brian Greenburg," Four replied in a shy voice, kicking one foot back and forth.  
"And how old are you, Brian?"  
  
"Seven."  
  
The man glanced at the woman, amused about something. "Seven? Practically all grown up. I have a daughter your age," the man said, fondness evident in his voice and expression.  
  
"Really? Is she here?" Four asked, looking around with apparent eagerness.   
  
"No, unfortunately not. She had an... an accident a few weeks ago," a shadow passed over his face. "But she will recover."  
  
Four frowned, not sure how a human child would react to that comment. Apparently his frown was the correct response, because the human smiled at him again. "Don't worry, she'll be fine. Now why don't you head over there and play?" he said, giving Four a little push towards a group of human children.   
  
Four had obeyed, and played with the human children successfully for several hours without drawing any attention to himself. Just before they left, however, his attention had been drawn to a little girl, about six years old, who was sitting off by herself, staring at the floor. Interested on what might definitely be considered deviant behavior, he moved over to stand next to her.  
  
"Hiya," he said when she didn't look at him.  
  
"Hi," she said in such a quiet voice that a human would barely have been able to hear her.  
  
"What's wrong?"  
  
She stuck her lip out in a pout. "Tomorrow's my birthday, and my dad has to go to Earth for business. That's why he brought me to this party, but I haven't seen him here, either."  
  
Four knew without thinking about it that the proper response from an adult would be to try to comfort the child. The response from a human child was a bit harder to guess, but he thought over the character he was playing. Brian would try to help her, in a clumsy, human child sort of way. Carefully he thought out a sentence that would make sense, coming from a child. "Well, he must love you a lot, to bring you to a neat party like this."  
  
She stared at him doubtfully, then sniffed once or twice to show just how hurt she was by all of this. Four knew, again without knowing why, that even though her pouting now was mostly for show, for any sympathetic audience, she really was a little hurt by her father's seeming abandonment. Without thinking about it, Four reached out and took her hand, easing away some of the sorrow and pain. He did so almost automatically, and was shocked when she suddenly stopped sniffing and flashed him a bashful smile.  
  
"Brian!" Mem's voice called him, and Four barely controlled a shudder. He didn't know what it was, but something had upset the man, and that almost always meant punishment. Instead of that, he made a pouting face, imitating the one on the girl's face a moment earlier.   
  
"I gotta go," he said, making a wry face.  
  
"OK," the girl said, already starting to move towards the table with dessert on it. "Bye-bye."  
  
"We're leaving," Mem informed him shortly, and Four responded with a short nod. Too late he remembered that this was not the proper response from a human child. He immediately rectified the situation by nodded and putting a broad, happy, stupid smile on his face. A glance at Mem made him think that his slip had gone unnoticed, but he couldn't be sure. Now that he was sitting there, on the way back to the base, he was convinced that Mem must have seen it. What else had he done wrong?   
  
He couldn't think of anything, but that didn't mean that Mem would have nothing to complain about. If Four didn't know better, he would have thought that Mem was looking for excuses to punish him. But no, that couldn't be true. Mem punished him because he was weak, because he wasn't living up to his design specifications, and wasn't serving the Alliance as well as he could. The punishments were used to help him focus, to remind him of his duty. But what had he done wrong?  
  
When they got back to the base, they went back to the briefing room, where their teacher - who had observed them - told them what they had done correctly, what they had done less than adequately. Four was reprimanded for the slight slip at the end of the engagement, but other than that the teacher said his disguise had been flawless. Four did not feel any relief at that pronouncement, although he felt a surge of pleasure at having completed this mission successfully. None of it showed on his face, of course. He waited for Mem to speak, as the man had been studying them, and more specifically, had been studying Four thoughtfully.   
  
When their teacher was dismissed, Mem walked up to Four, who immediately stood up at attention. "What did you do to that girl?" Mem asked in a sharp voice.  
  
Four was startled by the question. "Sir?"  
  
"You heard the question, Four, answer it!"  
  
Four hastily gathered his thoughts, still confused as to where this was leading. "I approached her, to observe different types of human behavior. She expressed unease about her family situation, and I attempted to ease it verbally."  
  
"Why?" Mem practically jumped on him.  
  
"Because it was how I believed a human child would act in that situation," Four replied smoothly.  
  
"Then what did you do?" Mem asked, not missing a beat.  
  
"I eased some of her discomfort, then you called me, and I left her."  
  
Mem stared at him, studying his face, looking for... Four didn't know what he was looking for, but he rigidly controlled his features.   
  
"How did you ease her discomfort?" he asked.  
  
"I..." Four trailed off as he realized that he didn't know what he'd done, only that it had helped the girl somehow. "I don't know, sir."  
  
"You don't know?" Mem's voice had definite threat in it.  
  
Four would have winced, but he controlled his face. "No sir."  
  
"And why is that?"  
  
Four thought fast, then came up with the only answer that made sense. "Because I'm not human, sir." That had to be it. It must be one of those things that only humans could understand, he told himself.  
  
To his surprise, Mem broke into a smile at his words. He nodded sharply. "That is correct, Four. Now, you are under direct orders not to explore this any further, is that understood?"  
  
"Yes sir," Four said. "But sir..."  
  
"Yes?" Mem's tone had turned sweet again, which immediately showed Four the enormity of his slip.  
  
"I, ah, I just thought that if I could learn what I did, I could do it again, and maybe I could use it to help Alliance soldiers, or to help the people we protect. Sir."  
  
"Is it just me, or are you considering disobeying orders?" Mem sounded terribly pleased.  
  
Four's terror took over him, and then he broke discipline, glancing desperately at the others, as if they would help him out of his troubles. Of all of them, only Three met his eyes, and just for a moment, before he, too, returned to proper discipline.   
  
"Don't look at them," Mem scolded. "They won't help a weakling like you, who disobeys orders. Is that right?"  
  
"Yes sir! I mean no sir!" Four stammered, then finally got control of himself. "I'm sorry, sir. I just thought..." He trailed off. No need to make things worse then they already were. He knew what was coming. "I won't disobey orders. Sir."  
  
"No, you won't. The rest of you are dismissed," One said with a wave of his hand, all of his attention focused on Four. "You will be punished."   
  
It's to make me stronger, he tried to tell himself. So I can serve the Alliance. But it was all he could do to keep his hands from shaking. As the others filed out, Three cast a sympathetic glance towards Four, but Four didn't notice it, caught up as he was in his terror of what was about to come.   
  
  
---------------  
  
  
On the tenth anniversary of the day that they were created, One waited patiently for his target to approach the podium. It was the first true mission that he had been given, and he was the first of them to get a mission. It was very important to him that he set a good example for the others, so this had to go flawlessly.   
  
His mission was to assassinate a representative of the colonies who'd spoken up in the Senate about giving the colonies independence. The man was dangerous, and had to be eliminated, although Alliance Intelligence would probably release a statement on behalf of the Rebels, claiming responsibility, not that anyone would really believe it. That wasn't his problem. It didn't matter who was blamed, so long as he wasn't caught and his target was dead.   
  
It had taken a good deal of planning to get this far. Security was set up by the Alliance, so it was thorough, and getting any kind of weapon in here would have been possible. Or at least getting a whole weapon in. One had spent the last few week preparing - on several different days he had walked through this very courtyard, and each time he had left a piece of his weapon. The individual pieces didn't show up on the scans the security people did of the area, and he was able to walk through the metal detectors without any fears. After that it took less than an hour to collect all of the pieces and stash them in the front of his shirt. When he'd collected all of the pieces, he managed to scale the side of one of the buildings, although it wasn't easy without a rope and few things to hold onto. No one noticed his ascent, and when he'd reached the roof, he was able to sit down and rebuild the weapon. It was an ordinary blaster, without a range-finder or laser sight. Both of those things could be detected, and as soon as they were, a force-shield would be activated around the representative. He would have to aim the old-fashioned way.   
  
One's breath momentarily caught in his throat as the representative stepped onto the raised platform. He raised the blaster - he'd have only one shot at this, if he missed, they would immediately activate the shield. He took his time aiming, almost a full minute, and waited until the applause had died down and the representative was ready to speak. He was just about to fire when he had a flash of inspiration. He swung around and fired one quick shot at the building across the square. There was a flash of light and some screams as several large pieces of concrete fell onto the square below, along with someone who had been standing in the building he hit. But he saw none of this as he turned back to aim at the representative, who had just turned his head, along with everyone else, to look for the source of the sound.  
  
His shot hit the representative in the head, killing him instantly. As more screams followed the first, he felt a wave of pleasure hit him, and he smiled, resisting the urge to laugh. Because of the way he had been created, the only way he could truly be happy was to complete a mission. He could smile and find things pleasant in other situations, but the only way he ever felt any real joy was when he was successful in the task set before him. He reveled in the feeling for a minute, then looked back over the edge of the roof.   
  
He heard the sirens of police and ambulances coming as the security people looked around, trying to determine where the shot had come from. He smiled. His little trick had worked - everyone had been looking at the sight of his first shot when he fired again, so they didn't know where he was. He scanned the scene one more time, and saw something strange.   
  
Along with the representative and his family, there were a number of other officials and their families. Among those was the ambassador who dealt with relations between Earth and this colony. But it wasn't the ambassador who caught One's attention. It was his daughter. She was obviously a colonist, an albino, so she must have been adopted, but that wasn't what caught his attention either. What caught his attention was the fact that amidst all the chaos, she was staring up at One. Directly at him.   
  
Does she see me? No, that's impossible. I'm well over a hundred meters away. Humans can't see details that far away without binoculars.   
  
He told himself that it had to be coincidence, or a trick of the light that made it look as if she was staring at him, and backed away from the edge of the roof. He quickly moved to the opposite edge of the roof. There was a fifty-foot gap between this roof and the next: he took a running start and cleared it. Someone on the ground saw him, but he had expected that, and at this height they wouldn't be able to make out any details, save that he was also albino, a colonist, which would serve his purposes well. It didn't matter how many alarms they set off now, his mission was completed.   
  
  
------------  
  
  
"So, what was it like?" Three asked after One had finished with his debriefing and was sent back to their quarters. "Were there any problems?"  
  
"None, it went smoothly."  
  
"How did it make you feel?" Two asked, grinning at his comrade's success.  
  
"I felt a lot of joy," One reported, wondering why he didn't feel anything now. From the way his instructors had described it, he'd thought he'd feel something different when he had his first real mission. The joy had been stronger than before, but had faded just as quickly, and now he felt nothing, no sense of accomplishment. He had completed him mission - that was what he had been created for - why should he feel accomplishment in that? But he felt like he should have.  
  
"What was killing him like?" Four asked. He was the weakest of them, often questioning their orders and being the last to come up with the best solution for certain problems. He was strange - but that wasn't always a bad thing. He'd come up with the idea of them giving themselves names. One liked that idea, but he wasn't sure why, and had suggested they wait until their first mission until they told each other their names. He was glad he'd waited now - it would be something new and different, now that his first mission had been accomplished.  
  
"It was nothing. Just like the drills. Why?"  
  
"No reason." Four shook his head and looked down at his hands, clasped in his lap. One decided to ignore the comment. Four was always strange.   
  
"Really? There was nothing more to it?" Five asked, sounding disappointed.   
  
"No."  
  
There was a short silence, then Two said. "Hey, it's time."  
  
Everyone looked at him. "Time for what?" Three asked.  
  
"One's got to tell us his name, the one he picked for himself. He's finished his first mission."  
  
"That's right," Four said, raising his eyes to look at One. "You get to go first. What is your name?"  
  
One hesitated, then said, "Heero."  
  
"Heero," Four repeated. "I like it." He gave One a little smile.  
  
One felt a hint of happiness at Four's words. He'd read the name in one of his schoolbooks, and it had appealed to him even before they decided to choose names. And it was his name, now. One was still his operating name, but now they could call him the other name, if they wanted to.  
  
"Heero," Five repeated slowly, then nodded.  
  
"Heero," Three also repeated thoughtfully. "Like hero?"  
  
"I get it," Two said with a grin. "One... I mean Heero wants to be a hero for the Earth Alliance. If it were up to him he'd take on all of the Rebels by himself."  
  
"Only if we're ordered to," Heero said.  
  
  
  
Just so you know, he's the only one with the same name. The rest pick different names for themselves, for various reasons. We get Rina's perspective on the assassination in the next section. :)  



	4. Part 3

{{TRANSCRIPT OF DIALOGUE FROM BASE 231.8  
STATUS: SECURITY LEVEL 1  
DATE: 31.12.16  
TOPIC: STATUS REPORT ON SUBJECTS  
  
  
A: The mission went off without a hitch, and he showed good adaptability in not getting caught. I'd say he's a success.  
  
  
B: My superiors and I agree. He's everything we hoped for and more. The emotional training took, as well. It will provide a strong tie later on. There's a little bit of concern about this business of names. We weren't informed of it.  
  
  
A: That's because we didn't know about it. The boys are, understandably, very close and secretive, and it's impossible to monitor all of their conversations. I'm assuming from the dialogue here that they've been planning this for some time. It could be very detrimental to their work if we tell them that they aren't permitted names. They would obey, but it might impair their efficiency. I honestly can't see the harm in letting them pick names as a celebration of their first successful mission. It's been described to them as both a test and a coming of age, so it makes sense they would want to change their self-image, just a little.   
  
  
B: Names are normally reserved for humans.  
  
  
A: There is no indication that they are beginning to think of themselves as human. In his debriefing One referred to himself as a project and to his completing his mission as what he was created for. The names mean nothing on that account, I assure you. Besides, analyzing what names they choose may be valuable in ascertaining what they value.  
  
  
B: In that case, we see no harm in allowing him to keep that name, and that goes for the rest of them. It does seem appropriate. Heero, a hero of the Alliance. You have trained them well.  
  
  
A: Thank you.}}  
  
  
-----------  
  
  
The tears that streamed down Rina's cheeks as she hurried out of the car were real, but the way she clung to her father, weeping hysterically, was not. That was for the benefit of the reporters who had followed them home following Representative Surd's assassination. All they would see was a hysterical ten-year-old girl, clinging to her father for comfort and protection after seeing a horrible crime occur right in front of her. As soon as the doors closed behind them, Rina let go of her father and ran up to her room, blinking the tears out of her eyes. Mourning could wait until later. Now she had a job to do. Quickly seating herself at her desk, surrounded by several screens and a computer many earth side countries would have envied, she went to work.  
  
At the top of her mind was the image of the assassin, the boy. He was a colonist... at least he had the coloring of a colonist, but what was most shocking was the fact that he was just a child, only ten years old. It never occurred to Rina to question why she would consider someone her age to be a child, while she was an adult. It was a constant in her life that she was different from other people, so normal standards didn't apply to her.   
  
But they don't seem to apply to him, either. Rina replayed the images in her mind. She had been sitting by her father when the first shot was fired, the distraction. She had immediately started tracking to the source of the shooting, and had seen the boy get off the second shot less than a second after the first, from a distance of well over one hundred meters without the aid of a scope. The shot should have been impossible, or else the boy was incredibly lucky. Rina didn't believe in luck.  
  
Rina had made herself into a fairly major player among the Rebels, although she'd never met any of them face-to-face and never intended to. Since she'd had the accident three years ago she'd come to realize just how different she was from normal humans, and had discovered that the differences had to be by design. I was created, like a machine, through genetic manipulation. I'm sure of it. Rina had performed numerous tests on herself. She was stronger than seemed humanly possible, could bend steel with her bear hands, and her reaction time was close to that of a computer. In addition to that, her senses were stronger than normal, which was what had allowed her to spot the assassin on the rooftop.   
  
In the last few years, what time she didn't spend working for the Rebels she spent researching herself. She was positive that she had been designed, although by whom and for what purpose she couldn't guess. It didn't make sense that someone would take the time to create someone like her, than abandon her at an orphanage. For a while she entertained the possibility that whoever it was was still watching her, but she would have noticed that sort of surveillance. She had picked up the spies that the Alliance placed around her father with no trouble at all. None of which brought her any closer to finding out how she came to be. I suppose I should be grateful to whoever it was. I'd never be able to help the Rebels if not for them. Rina carefully steered her mind away from wondering what it might have been like to have a normal childhood, and the other things she had found in her bloodwork. Some of them she had identified, some she had not.   
  
None of that now. Right now she had to figure out who that boy had been, how he'd managed that shot, and why he had killed Mr. Surd. Several more tears trickled down her cheeks. Although she was four years older, Mr. Surd's daughter, Julia, was one of Rina's few friends. She didn't really know anything about Rina, but she was nice to the younger girl and when Rina got together with her in order to throw off the psychologists, she often had a good time. Rina had suspected that her friend's father might be the target of an assassination by the Alliance, but she had checked the security and thought he would be safe today. Because of that assumption, the closest thing she had to a real friend had lost her father. Rina could never forgive herself for that.  
  
Even as these thoughts flashed through her mind she was ducking through various levels of the Alliance's security systems within their computers. There were loopholes and blind spots in every program, the trick was to jump from one to another without being caught. So far that hadn't happened, but there was always an element of risk that she would be caught and the line would be traced. To help void that danger, all of her calls were being bounced off several satellites. In case someone did catch her, she'd have over a minute to disconnect before they traced her home. She was always afraid that her clandestine activities would somehow get traced back to her father, and get him killed. Already she openly acknowledged the possibility that she would get herself killed, but that didn't concern her as much, for a number of reasons.   
  
That reminded her... she breathed a short sigh of relief once she made it into the main computer. Here she was relatively safe. A few years ago she'd created a false agent for the Alliance, and used his ID and security clearance to get into just about any files she wanted. She paused in her work long enough to reach into the desk and pop a few pills in her mouth. She swallowed them and then called up a general search query. There she hesitated for a moment, then began typing in a description of the boy she'd seen, along with a request for confirmation of orders concerning the assassination of Representative Surd. She started the search.   
  
Even for a computer like the one that ran the Alliance headquarters, the search took a few minutes. Rina took that time to clean herself up and change into some more comfortable clothes. In public she might play the dutiful daughter, but at home her business was her own, and no one told her what to do. "Rina," said her father's voice from the doorway. Rina didn't jump - she'd heard him coming, and it was easier at home not to have to pretend to have normal reflexes. "It wasn't your fault."  
  
"Don't patronize me," Rina said coldly.  
  
"Have I ever patronized you?" he asked in gentle reproach. "Ever? Not since you were less than one year old, I think, if ever."  
  
"Never," Rina said after a moment's contemplation. At first she had been too young for him to patronize - he thought she wouldn't have understood the words, and when he noticed how bright she was, that she did understand his words, even if her baby mouth couldn't form them properly yet, he quickly realized just how intelligent and how mature she really was. He had never patronized her. "But it was my fault. I should have warned the Rebels that he might be the target of a strike..." she cut herself off. Although they talked sometimes about the things she did, she tried to keep her father out of most of what she did, and only gave him general statements when they did talk, for his own protection.   
  
"Would they have believed you? And could they have done anything about it?"   
  
Rina considered his words. She accepted, and was grateful for the fact that even though her father wasn't as smart as she was, he had a lifetime of experience, and helped her keep a perspective on what she was and what she chose to do with her time. "They would have believed me," she said confidently. "They trust me enough now on things like that. But they couldn't have done anything. The security there was as good as any I've ever seen - I don't think the Rebels could have added anything to it. That was one of the most well-executed, precise strikes I've ever seen. I'm still trying to work out how he managed to get a gun in at all."  
  
"He? You saw the assassin?"  
  
"Top of the number 83 building." Rina turned as she heard the low tone of the computer, indicating it had finished it's search. She wasn't sure that she wanted to discuss the boy with her father, anyway. "I have to find the assassin, though, before he can do any more damage."  
  
Her father nodded, but she noticed that he had a worried look on his face as she went back into her computer room. She'd almost managed to stop the Alliance assassinations, until this boy showed up. How had he managed to get a gun in there? She had a clear picture of the gun he'd used in her mind. It could be taken apart into many pieces, she thought she recognized the model, but even in pieces, there's no way any of them would have made it past the guards. Unless they didn't go past the guards... She knew that the security people ran daily, sometimes hourly sweeps of the grounds up to weeks in advance, so that no one could plant a bomb. But those sweeps only detected certain materials, certain energy signatures... the pieces of that gun wouldn't show up. In order to plant all of the pieces, he must have made over a dozen trips in the past week. Despite herself, Rina felt a hint of admiration for the assassin. The hit had taken planning and a lot of skill.   
  
Then she remembered Julia's scream as her father slumped limply to the ground, the smell of burnt meat coming from what was left of his head, and the frantic search around her for the assassin, a search she knew would be fruitless because she had seen the assassin, up on the rooftop, just a few seconds before he turned and ran. The moment of admiration disappeared, and she felt guilty and disgusted with herself that she could think such a thing, even for a second. She turned to the computer. She would find out who this boy was, and she would hunt him down and find a way to stop him, even if she had to do it herself. That would end the threat. In the last three years Rina had also become an expert marksman and a decent fighter, and had purchased a gun for herself under another name, which she kept secreted in a hidden cubby in her room. She'd managed never to kill anyone, although she had been out hunting several times. It would have been easy to kill people, especially those that were truly dangerous. The ones who carried orders to commit other acts of destruction against the colonists, against innocents, those were the worst. It would have been so easy to kill them, but so far she hadn't, restraining herself so that she only disabled them for crucial periods of time, until the Rebels could mount a defense or organize an evacuation. Sometimes she had only a few hours warning on those, and if the messages had been passed, many more people could have died. Rina kept a black jumpsuit with a mask in the same cubby as her blaster.  
  
When she pulled up the results of her search, she got a surprise. The data she was looking for was under something called 'Project Titan,' but when she tried to pull it up, she got a security message on the screen. {{Intelligence Officer Hobbs, you are not connected with Project Titan. Your security code is insufficient to allow access to data.}}  
  
Rina leaned back in her chair, staring at the screen. When she had created the profile for the nonexistent Intelligence Officer Hobbs, she'd given him the highest security rating she could find. It should have been sufficient to get her access to any project, regardless of whether or not Officer Hobbs was connected with it. Her curiosity and sense of foreboding increased. Whatever this is, it's got the highest security rating I've ever seen. They really don't want anyone seeing this, which means I have to get in. She cleared the search and hacked her way back into the enlistment records. Pulling up Officer Hobbs' record, she noted that he was currently assigned to colony Kappa. Rina always made a habit of coming in here now and then to change his assignment, so it didn't look strange. Easy enough to get access. Hobbs has now officially been assigned to Project Titan. Rina quickly made the appropriate changes, and backed out of the enlistment records. The change would be instantly transmitted to all regions of the Alliance's computers. Pulling up another search, she quickly typed in the words, 'Project Titan', followed by her security code.  
  
The screen blinked several times, and just when Rina was about to think that she'd had some sort of short when the screen went white, with the words 'Project Titan' stamped across the top of the page, with 'Top Secret' in blood red right below it. Rina called up the first page. It was a series of genes. No, more than just a series, hundreds, thousands of symbols. A chill ran up and down her spine as Rina realized that the numbers on the screen in front of her could represent the entire genetic makeup of a person. She looked at the label at the top of the screen. All it said was 'ONE' - no name, no ID number, no nothing. Rina frowned and went back to the genetic data. By now she was something of an expert on DNA, after all the work she'd done studying her own, and as she continued to scan the data, she saw something else that truly frightened her - a large similarity between her own genes and those of this 'One' person.  
  
There were differences, of course, but the genes that had been changed to make her what she was - the ones that made her smarter, stronger, faster... all of those genes were also present, in addition to the normal genes of an individual. It couldn't be a coincidence. But how could she have the same genes as an experiment of the Alliance? Rina finally reached the end of the DNA sequences. Next were the results of a series of tests, measuring speed, intelligence, memory retention... all of the things that had been changed in her own genes. And the results of the tests were very similar to her own abilities. After the tests came a list of 'training missions', to test the abilities of the subject under real conditions, which meant everything from combat situations (combat?) to designing defense systems. The most recent entry was dated today, just a few hours after the assassination, saying that One's first mission had been accomplished successfully, and there was a file attached to it.   
  
Rina wanted to know what the file was, but before that she went down to the end of the file. And there she stopped. There were finally a series of pictures of the mysterious One, and she got a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. One isn't just an experiment of the Alliance, he's also the assassin. And I was created by the same people.  
  
  
----------   
  
  
Eight hours later, Rina had accessed every file, every data bite on or connected to Project Titan. She no longer had any doubts about where she came from. Now she had to figure out what to do about it. This had been the first 'real' mission for any of the five boys in Project Titan, but the reports made it clear that many more missions would follow the first, if it was successful. They'll be able to crack the Rebel's computer system as easily as I did. They can destroy the Rebels without any help.  
  
Rina knew from reading their profiles exactly how dangerous they were. They were all as smart as her, had the same training with weapons she'd gotten for herself, but they had been taught, since birth, to be killing machines. Through a combination of drugs and hypnotic suggestion, beginning from the day they were born, they had all been trained to believe that they could feel no joy unless they completed their mission. They had been taught to have no mercy, and felt no empathy whatsoever for any of their victims. In fact, they had repeatedly been told that they weren't human, and they seemed to accept it. Under other circumstances, Rina would have pitied them.   
  
She realized now just how lucky she had been that the Alliance hadn't wanted girls, that she had ended up in the orphanage. She had the same basic capabilities as those five boys, but she had been raised in a real home, with a loving father who taught her to have morals and to care for people. A father who showed her that just because she was different didn't mean she wasn't part of the human race. These boys obviously hadn't had that, and it made them even more dangerous.   
  
I have to do something. She'd read in one of the reports that a lab assistant for the project had become very upset at the way the subjects were treated, and had defected to the Rebels. He would know more about them, and might be able to give the Rebels an idea what they were up against. At the very least she had to warn them, while she tried to figure out what she could do about this new threat. She exited the Alliance's computer and got into the Rebels. She now had a place where she could regularly leave them messages, and they could leave them for her. For a moment Rina just sat in front of the blank screen, trying to compose her thoughts. Then she started to type.  
  
  
-----------   
  
  
Arthur was checking over some data on troop deployment when Heero came over. "How is it going?" he asked.  
  
Checking up on me to make sure the reject doesn't screw anything up? Arthur thought resentfully, then regretted it. The thought wasn't worthy of either himself or Heero. Heero was probably just following orders, they always double-checked each other, and besides, it wasn't his fault that Arthur just wasn't as satisfactory a product. He wasn't that much slower - he just didn't think of things the same way the others did, the same way they'd been taught. He was as good or better than the others in some things - unfortunately the commanders rarely had any use for those talents, which meant he just wasn't as useful to the Alliance as he would have liked.  
  
But none of that mattered right now. Right now he was supposed to be looking over the troop deployment stats and giving his opinion on their economy. Without looking at Hiro he replied, "There are three convoys in sector A3 that could cut their fuel use by 3% if they flew at a slightly more acute angle, say, 31 degrees right of the axial plane."  
  
Heero's attention was fixed on the screen. "That's the same conclusion I came to," he reported, and started to head back to his consul.   
  
There was a tone sounded over the loudspeakers, and they all paused and looked up. "Four, report to the briefing room," said an atonal voice, and then there was a click as the system was turned off.   
  
Arthur looked around as he stood up to obey orders. The others had mixed expressions. Heero, as usual, had no expression at all. Two kept glancing at loudspeaker as if wondering if it had made a mistake. Three was merely thoughtful. Five looked angry, maybe jealous too. No one had expected that Arthur would get the next mission, including Arthur himself. Oh, he could see Two getting it, if they were going by numbers, or Five, because he was so eager. Maybe even Three, because of his patience. But Arthur had no special qualities suited to the sort of mission he had known would come eventually. Why pick him?  
  
The door opened to admit him with a low chime, and closed behind him. Arthur didn't turn to look, but he knew if he did, he would see the red light indicating that the door was locked against intruders. He knew that they were an expensive investment, and that the Alliance would go to great lengths to keep them safe while on base. As he walked through the featureless halls, Arthur wondered what the others would think if they knew he already thought of himself by his chosen name, rather than by designation, even though he had yet to complete his first mission. He knew what the commanders would think, and inside shuddered to think what would happen if they ever found out. But how could they find out?  
  
Finally a doorway flashed a green light as he approached, and he turned as the door opened. He reminded himself to keep his back straight, chin high, eyes forward as he entered, and wondered if the others had to think about these things the way he did. Without letting his eyes move, he focussed on the faces around the table in front of him. Some he recognized, some he didn't. Those faces that were unfamiliar he filed away for later research. Without moving any part of his body other than his mouth, he said, "Four reporting." There was a long silence, the duration of which Arthur was forced to remain at complete attention, trying not to blink. He fought with frustration and resentment inside of himself. Why should he feel resentment over the way they chose to treat him? He wasn't human - he had been created to serve them, and belonged to them. Their only goal was to make him into a better soldier, a goal that he wanted to share. Still that little knot of resentment burned inside of him.  
  
Finally Commander Ell said, "At ease."   
  
Of course, Arthur's tense body posture didn't relax at all, but now he could move his eyes. He looked around the table, waiting for orders. When none came, he wondered if he was supposed to say something. More time passed, and he decided they must be waiting for some sort of response from him. Keeping his voice emotionless, he said, "Sir?"  
  
"Yes, Four?"   
  
Well, that didn't tell him what they were looking for, only that they were looking for some sort of an answer. He finally asked, "Who do you want me to kill?" He was horrified to hear a hint of bitterness in his voice. Surely they would hear it, too, and then they'd...  
  
"Four, do I detect a hint of resistance in your voice?" Mr. Mem said in a tone as sweet as sugar. Arthur knew better than to answer - that would just get him in more trouble. He knew that Mem was just waiting to strike when he used that tone of voice - he'd heard him use that voice to order a man put to death after Arthur finished interrogating the prisoner. He kept his face carefully blank as he waited to hear his punishment, although he already knew what it would be. "I think Four may need some time in the chamber, to help him concentrate on his duty to the Alliance. An hour or two, at least."  
  
Through a great act of willpower Arthur managed to keep the dread he felt off his face. The euphemistic chamber was a room also used to torture prisoners into talking. The boys had first been put in it when they were five, to start training them to resist torture if they were caught. Time in the chamber had helped them learn to focus their thoughts, to ignore outside distractions. It was the only way to keep your sanity in the chamber. After their training with it was done, the chamber became punishment if one of them slacked off or broke the rules, or exhibited the wrong attitude. Arthur had spent more time in the chamber than the other four put together. To his knowledge, Hiro had never been put in the chamber. Two and Five had been in it a few times, Two for having too much fun with his work, and Five for being too enthusiastic about his training. Three had only been in it once or twice, mostly for trying to protect Arthur. Sometimes Arthur was such a failure that he ended up in the chamber as much as once a week. In the chamber, lights flashed blindingly at random intervals, horrible screeching sounds played over loudspeakers, cold water was shot at him from time to time, and the floor gave him an electric shock if it looked like he was getting control of himself. Arthur managed to keep all of the pain and fear the memories brought him off his face as he delivered the appropriate response. "Yes, sir."  
  
"Later this week," Commander Pel said to Mem. "Now we have a job for him." He turned to Arthur. "Yesterday there was a security breach in Alliance's main computer."  
  
Arthur managed to hide his relief as earlier he had hidden his dread. They weren't going to send him to kill anyone yet. It was another of his weaknesses, the value he held for human life. None of the others had it - they were all eager for their first missions, eager to prove themselves to the Alliance. Arthur wanted to prove himself, too, but he didn't want to kill. Heero was right when he called him weak. "How deep was the penetration, sir?" he asked. Now that the briefing had begun, he was allowed to speak, to ask questions, if he wanted.   
  
"Full. They had access to every level of our operation, all of our projects, including you."  
  
Arthur frowned as he absorbed this startling information. He had designed the basic layout of the computer security system years ago. It was one of the few things he was good at. It wasn't perfect - no security system was, but no one should have been able to penetrate it that far. "How did they do it?"  
  
"We haven't figured out how they got into the main system yet, but when they did, they created the personnel file for an Intelligence officer that doesn't exist. The fake officer was given a very high security pass. Looking back in our records, we discovered that the fake file has been there for close to three years, but we don't know what else it has been used for. The only reason we caught it now was because of the extra security you put on your files. When the intruder failed to gain access through normal channels, they changed the personnel files to move the fake officer into Project Titan. The computer then recognized his right to access the files. The intruder was on for a number of hours, looking through your files. We're assuming they copied the data and have hard copies somewhere else, since they went through all of your files and all of the connecting ones in a little more than eight hours."   
  
Arthur nodded. It was a reasonable assumption - no human could read and absorb that much information in that short a period of time. "Do you want me to find out who the intruder is?"  
  
"No, Intelligence is looking into that. We want you to figure out how the intruder got into the system in the first place, and to find out what else the fake ID has been used to access. I've already transmitted all of the data to your terminal."  
  
Arthur nodded again. "Do you want me to construct a temporary shield to protect the system until I find out how they got in and block that route?"  
  
"No, that has already been taken care of."  
  
Arthur had no more questions, and snapped back into attention, eyes straight forward. Pel studied him for a moment, then said casually, "You will be sent instructions on when to report to the chamber." He studied Arthur's face for a reaction, but there was none. "Dismissed."  
  
  
  



	5. Part 4

{{STATUS: SECURITY LEVEL 1  
DATE: 31.12.16  
TOPIC: EMOTIONAL STATE OF FOUR  
  
  
A: So, now you've seen him with your own eyes. What do you think?  
  
  
B: What do the latest psychological reports on him say?  
  
  
A: We don't use psychologists.  
  
  
B: Why not?  
  
  
A: They weren't brought up as humans. They're tools, nothing more. The signs that a psychologist would look for just aren't there. We rely solely on the judgment of those connected with the project. What do you think?  
  
  
B: I think that he's psychologically unsuited for the kind of work you want him to do. It's obvious that he is very reluctant to kill, even for the Alliance, although he shows every indication of the same loyalty the others exhibit.  
  
  
A: That's impossible. He was given exactly the same training as the others, and designed by the same scientists. You're suggesting that he feels compassion towards humans - an impossibility. Compassion requires empathy, and he is not human.  
  
  
B: As much as I would like to believe otherwise, I cannot believe that you were able to control every aspect of their existence. The DNA before you changed it came from donors, didn't it?  
  
  
A: We needed the basic material to make our changes. You can't make something from nothing, commander.  
  
  
B: I'm not suggesting you should have. But by your own admission, there was something there before you started your tinkering. There may be something of the original donors in them, something that all of the training and conditioning cannot erase. They do have different personalities, don't they?  
  
  
A: Yes.  
  
  
B: Why should any of them have different personalities, if their training was identical? Why should anything be different?  
  
  
A: There are uncontrollable factors...  
  
  
B: Like the donors. Their parents, in a manner of speaking. I believe that if you force Four to do something that so obviously disturbing to him, you may push him past the brink of sanity. He walks that edge far too often, thanks to that barbaric method of punishment you've devised.  
  
  
A: They must have structure in their lives. Threat of punishment provides structure.  
  
  
B: Punishment, yes, but not torture.  
  
  
A: I don't remember asking your opinion on my methods. Four was created for the same purposes as the others. He will complete his missions when he is ordered to, or he is useless. We have no use for projects that do not fulfill their functions.   
  
  
B: In that case, I have finished with my review. I wish you the best of luck, Doctor.  
  
  
A: You sound so sincere, I could almost believe you mean it.  
  
  
B: I do mean it. If you fail, I can see the entire project blowing up in your face. And I don't know if even the Alliance could survive such an explosion.}}  
  
  
----------  
  
  
Three clenched his hands into fists. He would have started pacing, walking back and forth to let off some of the anxiety he was feeling, but only humans did things like that. So instead he tried to lose himself in discipline, the way Heero always did. He stared at the essay on economical use of suicide troops that he had chosen to read, but the words failed to have an impact on his brain. After a few seconds he looked up at the door again, then around the room. "How long has it been?" he asked, and instantly regretted breaking the silence as he felt Heero's eyes on him. He'll know what I'm thinking, and he'll think I'm weak.   
  
"You have the same internal clock as the rest of us," Five grumbled, not looking up from his own work. "Figure it out yourself."  
  
Three already had, but that wasn't why he had spoken. He didn't know exactly why he had spoken.  
  
"It's been three hours and forty-six minutes," Two said to Three, glancing at Heero. "That's twenty-eight minutes longer then they ever left him in before."  
  
"So?" Five asked, still not raising his head. "If he's being punished, it's because he did something wrong. Who are we to question the commanders?"  
  
"If they kill him he's useless to them," Three said, more sharply then he intended. Five finally raised his head to look at Three, who instantly knew that he'd gone too far, almost lost control. Luckily the door slid open then, revealing Four and two soldiers. Four was standing on his own, but from the way the soldiers kept their hands on his arms, Three could tell that they expected him to collapse at any moment. Four took a step into the room, and instantly lurched towards the wall, almost falling right there. No one made any move to help him. The door closed.  
  
Four stood there for a minute, leaning against the wall, while the others pretended to ignore him. They never openly acknowledged the issue when one of them was punished.   
  
Finally Four walked to his desk and sat down. The files on the intruder were still on the screen, just the way Four had left them when the soldiers came to take him for punishment. He stared at the screen through red-rimmed eyes, his shoulders hunched forward, hands resting in his lap. Three had never seen him look so terrible, and he noticed red marks on Four's wrists. They must have added something new to the chamber and tied him down. "Four," he said quietly, instantly drawing the attention of the others. He was breaking an unsaid rule, talking to Four immediately after he returned from being punished.  
  
Four knew he was breaking the rule, too, and barely turned his head. "What is it?" he asked in a hoarse voice.  
  
Three swallowed, knowing that he was taking a big risk, that he might be punished himself for this, but he did have the best interests of the Alliance at heart. If Four didn't take some time to recover, he'd be useless for the Alliance. "You should rest."  
  
Four turned his head back to the screen. "I have work to do."  
  
Three knew better than to glance in Heero's direction - all he would get was that unblinking stare, and Five was probably ready to report him right now. So he looked at Two, who was watching Four intently, and Three noticed that Two was frowning. Just slightly, just a slight crease at the corner of his mouth, invisible to anyone but one of his fellow creations, but Three noticed it. "Four," he said again, a little louder, and noticed the way that Four hunched his shoulders a little bit when Three said his name.   
  
"I have work to do," Four repeated a little louder, but that only served to show everyone exactly how hoarse his voice actually was.   
  
Then Four raised his right hand to shift the screen down, and everyone saw how violently his hand was shaking. Four realized that they'd seen it a half second too late, after he clutched his right hand to his chest to stop the trembling. He looked around, saw that everyone had seen the gesture, and let his head drop to his chest in shame at his weakness.   
  
"If you keep going now, you're going to make a mistake, you may miss something," Three urged. "If you want to serve the Alliance best, you have to be alert. Rest for an hour or two, then get back to work."  
  
Four considered that for a second, then pulled his hand away from his chest and stared at it for a moment. Immediately the uncontrolled trembling started again, and he grabbed his wrist with his left hand to stop it, then nodded at Three. His face was an unreadable mask - for once his discipline was holding - but Three knew he was miserable. Four just wasn't as good as the rest of them, and he knew it as well as they did. He started to stand up, then almost fell to the ground when his legs wouldn't support him. He would have, except that Three was looking out for that and managed to catch him, easily supporting his weight. Then, to his surprise, Two was on the other side of Four, helping to carry him to his bunk. Between the two of them, it was simple, and in a few seconds Four was lying on his bunk, already unconscious.   
  
Two was refusing to meet anyone's gaze, but Three could see a hint of a self-righteous smile on his face.   
  
"He's weak," Five said, finally breaking the silence.   
  
Three glared at him, with his back towards the cameras so the commanders couldn't see. "He has his strengths," he said softly.  
  
"Like what?" Five asked scornfully.  
  
"He lasted... what? Three hours and forty-seven minutes? That's an hour and twenty-two minutes better than your record, and fifty-six minutes better than Heero's."  
  
Five glared back at him, but before he could say anything, Heero spoke.   
  
"Five is right, Four is weak, but that doesn't mean that he can't be useful. He's better with computers then any of us, and better at interrogations, too. Just because he's weaker than any of us, doesn't mean that the Alliance shouldn't use him. Our purpose is to serve the Alliance, nothing more."  
  
"He's still weak," Five muttered  
  
"But Heero's right, he does have some uses," Two said cautiously. "And we do exist for the Alliance - they must see something useful in him."  
  
"Of course they do," Three said, amazed that the others hadn't seen it. "Just because he's weaker than us doesn't mean that much to them. He's still stronger, faster, smarter than a human, even in the areas that we consider weaknesses. He can still serve the Alliance better than any human."   
  
"And he's stronger than us in a few areas. Instead of mocking Four, you should try to figure out why he's so much better at some things then we are, and so much weaker in so many other areas," Heero advised. "That's what I do. We exist only for the Alliance, to serve the people; we should try to become as useful for them as possible."  
  
Three nodded agreement, but he thought, Is that all Four is to you, Heero? Just a way to make yourself stronger for the Alliance? He knew that was the truth, and he also knew that he shouldn't have a problem with it. Everything Heero had said was completely right, completely logical. It was exactly what they'd been taught, what Heero lived, every second, every day of his existence, that's why he was the best, right? The only thing he ever cared about was becoming the strongest, so that he could serve the Alliance best.   
  
And that's right. Why can't I be like that? Because he wasn't like that, and he knew it. Three knew that deep down in the back of his mind, he counted his fellow subjects more important than the Alliance. He was always more concerned with what they did to Four than with what he could do for the Alliance. The Alliance was important, of course, and he desperately wanted to serve it, just like the others, but if, for some impossible reason, it ever came to him to decide between the Alliance and his companions, he already knew what his choice would be.   
  
And that makes me even weaker than Four. At least his desire to serve the Alliance is pure. If he is weak, what does that make me?  
  
----------  
  
A few days later Arthur finished his report. He would have finished it earlier, but a good deal of his time was occupied with drills, more lessons, and over three hours in the chamber. He actually lost more than three hours there, because he had to sleep for several hours after that to recover from his punishment. At least no one openly looked at him with contempt when he came back from one of his punishments. If nothing else, he had gained the respect of his comrades in his ability to withstand torture. It wasn't worth it.  
  
Two and Five had been discretely smug when they found out that Arthur hadn't actually gotten a regular mission yet, although Two tried to hide it. He was generally more considerate than Five, just caught up in his duty to the Alliance to become the best soldier he could be. Heero and Three were just curious about what Arthur had been ordered to do.   
  
When Arthur finished his report, he explained his findings to the others. Not only did it give them a chance to catch any mistakes he might have made, sharing information was valuable. There was no telling when one of them might be sent to another colony where they might find similar sabotage. "Whoever did this was good, and I mean amazing, for a human," he told them. "The system I designed has many layers overlapping, so that someone who might get through the first would get caught by the others."  
  
"I remember," Three said slowly. "You had a problem with the energy surge - the layers, if made continuously, built up more and more energy until they got too hot and either melted down or exploded. I remember you mentioning that you found some way around it."  
  
"Yes. The energy buildup is only a problem if the stream is continuous. I built a slight gap in each of the layers, it lasts about one tenth of a second every minute, to prevent the overload. Now, whoever did this somehow managed to jump from gap to gap almost continuously, and in that way worked their way through the protection."  
  
"Wait a minute. How could a human do that?" Two asked. "Their reaction time isn't that good."  
  
"I know, but Intelligence is finding the guy, not me, and I don't have access to their findings, so I can't answer that question. I thought for a while that they might have built a computer program, but I don't think so anymore. There's too much randomness to the program for another computer to be able to calculate. It has to be a human, but not one like any I've ever heard of."  
  
"I've heard that an area of Alliance Intelligence is trying to merge a human mind with a computer," Five observed. "So far no viable results. Is it possible that the Rebels," he growled the word as if it were an epithet, "have already developed such technology?"  
  
"I doubt it," Heero said. "They don't have the resources or the skilled technicians necessary for that sort of research."  
  
"Four," Three said thoughtfully. "Could one of us have gotten through your system?"  
  
"Probably, but I never tried. Why? You don't think that the Rebels have the technology to create on of us?" Arthur looked at Heero, who shook his head.  
  
"No, they're barely able to buy enough weapons to arm themselves. They don't have any resources to divert to experiments like us."  
  
"I didn't say they did," Three said matter-of-factly. "I was just pointing out that there are other options to computers that might explain how it was done."  
  
Aware that he was treading on dangerous ground for just talking about this with the others, Arthur turned the conversation back to his findings. "I solved that problem by attaching little alarms to each of the gaps. If anything touches them, we get a warning. I've got a new security protocol that ought to take care of the intruder creating fake identities for themselves and hiding in the system." He transmitted the data to the others, and saw them nod approvingly. "It will take me less than an hour to set all of that up once I clear it with the commanders."  
  
"Why didn't the regular security programs catch it?" Two wanted to know.  
  
"Well, first the data was fed directly into the main computer, which bypassed most of the security we have on that count. The reason the snooper programs that patrol the system didn't catch it is that they're programmed to find irregularities. Whoever created the fake ID was good. They snuck back into the system to make little additions to the file, changing the posting, adding reports on the fake officer's performance. Except for the fact that the officer didn't exist, there was nothing to indicate that there was anything unusual about him.  
  
"Now, I've also been tracing what the intruder did with the access he had. From what I can tell, he's been moving in and out of the Alliance system without any problems, possibly on a daily basis. From his position, he could pull up virtually any file anywhere in the system - everything from classified commands and top-secret orders to what was on the dinner menu for one of our bases on a particular day. He could have seen anything. I think he's probably responsible for the failure of many major Alliance offensives in the last few years, that is, assuming he's one of the Rebels, or at least has been feeding information to them."  
  
"Rebels," Five growled in a low voice.   
  
"It ends now," Arthur said, glad that he was able to help the Alliance, even if it was just with computer stuff like this. "This ought to cut them off." He paused for a second as he noticed a blip at the bottom of his screen. They got feeds all the time this way, informing them of their training schedules or of staff rotations. He automatically clicked on it - no reason to leave it until later. It was a simple message, probably created and passed on by the computer to their desks automatically without ever having by seen by human eyes, informing them that a Dr. Kay was being transferred to their project.   
  
Usually he would just file such messages away in the back of his mind. He never forgot anything, but some things just weren't worth spending any time thinking about. If he ever met this Dr. Kay, he would recognize his name. Other than that, the data had no value to him. That was what usually happened. But right now his recent studies were at the top of his mind, and this message touched off a familiar chord. We destroyed the file that he'd been using to get inside. He wouldn't try again so soon... would he?  
  
"What is it?" Three asked, noticing the difference in his face.  
  
"There's a new doctor assigned to our project," Arthur said, quickly calling up personnel files. He started searching through them. He quickly found Dr. Kay. The man had a full history, records of his excellent performance at other tasks which led to him being assigned here. The picture was clear, as were the finger-prints and retinal images. It all looked perfectly normal. But still...  
  
"So?" Two asked as Arthur went back into the program, going through old records that were on their way out of the system. Every day thousands of data bites were destroyed so that they didn't fall into the hands of the Alliance's enemies, but before they were destroyed, they were usually held for a few days. Surely old personnel files would be among them...  
  
"I think it's stretching coincidence that they would transfer someone new here just a few days after someone got in using the cover of being transferred to the project."  
  
"You think it's the intruder again." Heero said, suddenly intense. "You're trying to verify it."  
  
"How?" Two asked, suddenly gaining a great deal of interest in Arthur's work.  
  
"I'm looking for an old version of the personnel files. I can't tell from the current files which ones have been here for some time, and which were created recently, but if the intruder really is trying to get back in, then this Dr. Kay won't exist in an older version of the files," Arthur replied while typing at his keyboard. "Here it is." He quickly scanned the listings. "There's no Dr. Kay!"  
  
"I'm instituting a trace," Three said, sitting down at his own desk. The others quickly followed suit.   
  
"Let's see if we can trap him," Heero said. "How long has he been on?"  
  
"An hour at least. He's been downloading our files."  
  
"Can you block him?"  
  
"Not until we find him."  
  
"Trace under progress," Three reported.   
  
"I've locked him out of Quadrant A," Five reported.  
  
Arthur quickly sealed off their section of the computer from the main Alliance system. Now the only way the intruder could get out was to disconnect entirely from the system, which could damage computers if done too quickly.   
  
"Quadrant C, locked off," Two reported.  
  
"I'll lock him out of Quadrant D," Heero told Arthur. "Then he's yours."  
  
Arthur nodded quickly, surprised and pleased by Heero's tacit admission that Arthur was the best among them at dealing with computers. "I'll get him." Heero shut off Quadrant D, and Arthur started to work. It was harder to find the intruder within a specific quadrant than to just lock him out of one, but file by file Arthur worked his way through the quadrant, chasing the intruder in front of him. He almost had the intruder when suddenly words appeared on his screen.  
  
{Who are you?}  
  
Arthur stared at the screen.   
  
"What the hell?" Two muttered. "Are you guys getting this too?"  
  
{Which one are you?}  
  
"It's the intruder. He's talking to us," Arthur muttered. "Heero, can I answer?"   
Heero was nominally their leader, and since he was the only one who had actually completed a mission, he had more authority.   
  
Heero hesitated, then nodded, and Arthur turned to his screen.  
  
{Identify yourself. You have broken Alliance law and will be prosecuted.}  
  
{Which one are you?} the intruder repeated.  
  
{What are you talking about?}  
  
{I know you.} The words sent a shiver up and down Arthur's spine. He glanced at Heero, who nodded for him to continue, then glanced meaningfully at Three. Arthur nodded as he understood - the longer he kept the intruder talking to him, the longer Three would have to trace the call.  
  
{What do you mean, you know me?}  
  
{You're Four, aren't you?}  
  
Arthur jumped a little and looked at the others, who stared back at him with wide eyes.   
  
{I don't know what you're talking about.}  
  
{Yes, you do, Four. I want you to give One a message. Tell him that I know who he is, and I know what he did to Representative Surd. He will be punished for his crime, and so will the rest of you, if you continue on the same course.}  
  
Arthur glanced at the others. As usual, Heero had no expression on his face, but he saw naked shock on Two's face, and anger on Five's. {Who are you?} he demanded.  
  
{I'm someone who knows exactly what you are, and who can keep up with you. You've only been facing ordinary humans before. Now you're against me, and you're going to lose.}  
  
{Who are you?}  
  
{I am your enemy, the only one that matters. As my words are carried to the Rebels, they will destroy you. This is the last you will hear from me until you are looking down the barrel of my gun. Know this and be forewarned.}  
  
Arthur frowned. The intruder, whoever he was, was being typically vague and threatening, just like most of his kind. Filthy Rebels, always hiding and fighting without revealing themselves. Arthur started to type again, trying to draw out the conversation so that Three could finish his trace, but something suddenly occurred to him. Just as he was trying to keep the intruder on the line for the trace, the intruder was trying to keep him on the line for some other reason. That was the reason for all the vague threats and general statements - to buy time. Meanwhile the intruder is still in the system, still pulling information off the system, maybe doing damage to it... "Cut the line!" he snapped.  
  
Two, who had control of the line, looked at him. "What?"  
  
"Cut it!" he shouted, and Two actually obeyed him.  
  
"Why did you do that?!" Five demanded. "You cut off the trace!"  
  
"It's all right," Three said. "It was useless. Whoever he is, he's covered his tracks well. The signal was bounced off a dozen satellites all around Centari and all the way to Earth. There could have been a dozen more in front of it, between us and the location. Why did you cut it off, Four?"  
  
"He was trying to keep us on the line," Arthur said, staring at the words that remained on the screen. "He was doing the same thing we were doing, trying to buy time, while he was still downloading information. Remember, I never actually trapped him. He started talking to us to distract us, and we fell for it."  
  
-----------  
  
After the first contact, the boys worked feverishly to discover who the intruder was and how much he knew about them. They were never able to find out anything, but for the first time in their lives the missions they planned (and later carried out as they each became operational) started to fail as someone out guessed them. They would plan a strike on a known Rebel base, only to arrive and find that it had been deserted just hours before. A public figure or civilians would have to be sacrificed for the good of the Alliance, only to have the Rebels spreading information about the Alliance and it's true agenda before the blood had cooled. The information they spread was all lies, of course, but it was turning the general public against the Alliance, and giving the Rebels a support base that they'd never had before.  
  
Despite the fact that they'd cut off access to the Alliance's central computer, the Rebels continued to act as if they had complete access to it. Arthur became positive that that was the case and spent many hours going through files, passwords, and records, trying to figure out where there might be a leak, even going so far as to check the personnel records against civilian records on Earth, to make sure the people actually existed.   
  
There were leaks within the Rebels that gave them some information, but after a while even those became suspect as the 'leads' they got all petered out to nothing. In order to prove the validity of their suspicions the traitors in the Rebels were ordered to give some solid information about a Rebel strike, rather than only passive information (this had been done in order to shield the agents). The information was provided, but when the Alliance agents arrived, there was nothing there, and at the same time the Rebels executed a very successful attack on a soldier barrack, killing dozens of Alliance soldiers. The boys became very quiet and very angry when this news was brought to them. Among the dead found there were the agents who had provided the information, but autopsy reports showed that they had been dead for weeks or longer, indicating that whoever had killed them had been toying with the Alliance, knowingly feeding them bad information. The worst part of that was that they had known the correct channels, the proper way for passing the information along, which indicated that the enemy had vast knowledge of Alliance Intelligence, possibly that the entire branch was compromised.  
  
While spies throughout the Alliance sought out more information about this new threat, the boys worked furiously to keep up. The deadly game between their unseen enemy and the boys continued for a year or more. Sometimes the boys managed to outplay or outguess their enemy, and sometimes he beat them. And whenever that happened, people on one side or another died, but after all this time, they were no closer to discovering the identity of the intruder.  
  
-------------  
  
Rina studied the three screens in front of her with a sinking sensation in the pit of her stomach. The problem was not with the ongoing war with the members of Project Titan. With fewer resources but almost unlimited information on them, even to the point of videos of their planning sessions, she was barely managing to keep up with their plans for her. Leaving the bodies of the spies when they made that strike at the barracks of the Alliance soldiers had been a good idea. It was keeping them off-balance, unsure of what she meant by that gesture. Was it arrogance, to show how long she'd known about them? Or maybe a warning not to send anyone else in? Or maybe even that she was some sort of religious nut who insisted on giving them an honorable burial, or some other nonsense like that? She doubted that the real reason, that she'd done it solely to throw them off-track, would ever occur to them.  
  
However, it took a certain amount of effort to stay ahead of them. Her research indicated that they were close to finding the pattern she'd embedded in the last persona she'd used to shield herself. That meant it was time to switch tactics entirely and start on a new path, but not before she used one last ploy. Assuming that they'd seen the pattern, she'd have the Rebels plant evidence that that person was still in command. The boys would, of course, jump on that and arrange an ambush at her next presumed target. At which point she would switch on them, either arranging to ambush the ambushers, or strike at an entirely different spot. She'd done this three times so far, and they hadn't caught on yet, but it was only a matter of time until they caught on to the pattern in the bigger picture. Then she'd have to drastically change her tactics. But that wasn't a problem yet.  
  
Almost absentmindedly she started creating a new persona in her mind to hide behind. The last had been a young, vibrant man, brilliant but prone to taking large risks. The next should be an older man, she decided, maybe an old war veteran or something like that. The Rebels had gotten nervous under the rule of the previous leader, and this time had opted for someone more conservative, less risky, she thought, rounding out the story behind the character. And so they had chosen an older man with lots of experience. Information coming out of the Rebels would be cut down to a minimum, but there'd be less strikes, as well, maybe a building up period in recruitment. The last few strikes she had made had been pretty dramatic, and the constant stream of propaganda that was sent out was having its effect. There were more supporters of the Rebels in the colonies and on Earth then ever before, not that it made much of a difference as long as the Alliance was firmly in control, but it was swelling the ranks of the Rebels, at least in Alpha colony.  
  
The new persona would only be good for a month or two, at the most, then she'd have to switch it out for someone more young and ready to act, but it didn't matter. In fact, it would be good to break up her routine by retiring someone who hadn't been figured out by the boys. That was, if she could keep them from figuring her out in that time. They were getting better at this. A little bit of confusion was in order, she made a mental note of that as she finished preparations to discard her latest persona.   
  
Once all of that was done, and she'd finished doing to data analysis, replacing the high-tech computers the Rebels couldn't afford, most of the night had gone by. She needed very little sleep, but she did need some, so Rina started to prepare for bed. She turned off two of the screens, leaving the third, the troubling one, staring at her from the darkness.   
  
She'd known this was coming. She'd officially joined the Rebels almost two years ago, and since then, as they got used to her, she had been steadily rising in power. She'd been the leader in all but name for the last six months, so she should have expected them to ask her to make it official. But despite all of that, it still came as a shock. She didn't want this responsibility, didn't ask for it, but she had known it was coming. She'd already dedicated her life to the Rebels, and she was most fit to lead them. She should accept the offer and become the official leader of the Rebels. Very little would change, actually. Most of the common Rebels would never know who she was, and she'd continue to hide behind others, only exposing herself directly when she was desperately needed. Certainly it would be useful not to have to convince people to listen to her all the time, although the important ones did that, anyway. No, the only real change would be in them - and her - acknowledging what had already happened.  
  
So why am I so reluctant? she wondered.  
  
The real reason was because she didn't want to take responsibility. As long as she was 'only' an advisor, she could lie to herself, a little, and tell herself that she wasn't responsible for the deaths of all the people she killed. Countless Alliance soldiers had fallen because of her, and many Rebels as well. When was it that I learned how to knowingly order men to their deaths without flinching? Sometime in the last year, I suppose, she observed with a detachment that disturbed her. Rina had only recently noticed the change in herself, and was not pleased. Especially not when she couldn't remember exactly when the change had taken place. Her first kill had been traumatic, a horrible experience. Years ago, when she sent information to the Rebels and some of them were killed, that had been bad enough. But in the last few years, she personally met the Rebels. After that, sending them to their deaths was much, much worse. Sometime between when she first started sending people she knew to die and now, something had changed. Driven by the desperate situation of the Rebels and the first real challenge she'd ever faced, Rina had bent to necessity and ordered her own men into the field, knowing they would die but gaining her valuable information not stored in the computers, or occasionally, time to run.   
  
But now... Taking the reins of power would mean full responsibility on her for every Rebel that died as long as she remained in control, and the thought terrified her.  
s  
That realization was followed by a flash of anger directed at herself. The responsibility was there whether she took the power or not, and not taking it would represent a type of cowardice that Rina hated, even more so when she found it in herself.   
  
Angry at life and the Alliance for putting her in this situation, and even more angry with herself for feeling that way, Rina typed out her response to the Rebels offer. Then she promised herself she'd never even think that way again.  
  
-------------  
  
"So who do you think this new Phoenix person is?" Herc asked. He was currently doing handstand pushups to keep in shape between missions. His bangs were hanging in front of his eyes, obscuring any view of them. He'd grown his hair as long as their commanders would permit it, just a couple of inches long. And the only reason they allowed that was because it made him look more like a normal human. After that point had been made to their commanders, they'd all been ordered to grow their hair into the current styles popular in the colonies.  
  
"I doubt he exists," Heero replied, glancing at Arthur, who was busy searching for clues that would tell them where to expect the next Rebel strike. Michael and Kan were out, scouting a likely site themselves after the last team they sent out disappeared without a trace. That was their primary occupation nowadays, when they weren't given an actual mission to complete. They had been instructed to keep on searching for ways to hurt the Rebels. They were having less success then Heero liked to admit. They all burned with the desire to help the Alliance and the people, and right now they were all extremely frustrated at their failure to find any of the various leaders of the Rebels in the two years since Hiro's first mission.  
  
Arthur had come up with various profiles of the different leaders - there were five that they could see, based on different types of strategies, different styles... He'd come up with them, then thrown them out when another person took over, or when he felt that the information they received was planted just to throw them off track. Heero had no idea where he was getting his ideas from, but trusted that Arthur was doing the best possible work on this project. His instincts for this sort of thing were unmatched, even among the other four. He might be weak, but in this thing he was the undisputed expert.  
  
"Damn it!" Four exclaimed in an uncharacteristic show of frustration. But there was more excitement in his voice now, although his face was expressionless. At least that much of his discipline was holding, Heero observed disapprovingly.  
  
"What is it?" Herc asked without standing up.  
  
"I'm such a fool!" Arthur berated himself. "It was right here all along and I missed it!"  
  
"Missed what?" Heero asked, walking over.  
  
"The big pattern. All this time we were trying to figure out how the Rebels switched leaders so often without losing their organization, and we were trying to figure out who the new leaders were by their actions!"  
  
"So?" Herc asked, finally stopping his exercise and coming over. "That makes sense, doesn't it?"  
  
"Not if there was no changeover in the Rebel leadership," Arthur said. His eyes were half-closed as he obviously was analyzing data, trying to fit things together now that he had a new theory.  
  
"There was a definite change in strategy," Heero pointed out. He wanted some sort of logical proof before he accepted Arthur's theory. Arthur was usually right with this sort of thing, but he wouldn't trust his instincts that far.  
  
"Not if you look at those changes as part of an overall strategy," Arthur said, opening his eyes.  
  
"Say again?" Herc asked.  
  
"If we look for an overall strategy, and assume that there was no actual change in leadership, there is a definite pattern. Look, a new strategy... a character, like the ones we play, suddenly shows up, with no lapse in time from the last and no inefficiency among the Rebels. We assumed that the leaders were grooming their replacements, but what if there is no change? The character remains for a period of time, two, three, or four months, and just as we begin to see definite patterns, it changes. But the last action of the old character, the predictable one, is completely radical and catches us off-guard. It happens again, and again, and again... See what I'm saying?"  
  
Heero nodded, and Herc muttered, "That son of a bitch! It's been one person the whole time! But the pattern changes with this last person. The latest... what did you call it? Character? The latest character vanished without a strike, and now there are rumors about this Phoenix guy."  
  
Arthur looked worried. "I don't know if the Phoenix actually exists. I doubt it, it's probably just another character, with a name thrown in to throw us off-guard, but I'm not sure."  
  
The door opened and as they all snapped to attention, Mem walked in. "Still, excellent work, Four. Your observations will be immediately passed along to Intelligence. You have a new mission, a long-term one this time, on Umbra Space Station. Most of the population of the station are from Earth, so you will be given special skin-dyes and other equipment to blend in there. As soon as the other two return, report to the briefing room for more instructions." He turned to leave, then gave Arthur one last glance. "You may prove to be of some use to the Alliance yet."  
  
Arthur's face was absolutely rigid, but Heero knew that he had been deeply hurt by the comment, and wondered why Mem had made it. Arthur lived for the Alliance, the way they all did, and if he was weaker than the others, he was well aware of it and angry with himself for that weakness. Mem's comment did nothing but remind him of that, which was pointless. The only meaning it could have had was to hurt Arthur, if he had feelings like a human, which he didn't. Maybe that was it, Mem was trying to remind Arthur of what he was. But why would that be necessary? It wasn't as if Arthur thought he was human. The thought was ridiculous. So then why had he done it?  
  
Try as he might, Heero couldn't come up with an answer.  
  
  
  
  
Hiya. Um, some people mentioned last time that they thought this was a prequel to "The Others" but changed their minds when the names didn't match. This is the base story for that AU - I changed the character's names in "The Others" to help me remember the differences between the characters, since "The Others" is a sort of AU to Project Titan. It got really confusing, which is why I changed the characters' names in the first place. Anyway, it IS the prequel to "The Others", for all intents and purposes. Just wanted to clear that up. :) 7/22/01  



	6. Part 5

{{TRANSCRIPT OF DIALOGUE FROM BASE 231.8  
STATUS: SECURITY LEVEL 1  
DATE: 35.4.20  
TOPIC: NEW MISSION FOR PROJECT TITAN  
  
  
A: It's been over four years since One's first mission. Although not all of their missions have been successful, no one has ever come close to detecting them. Their talents are being wasted, working on minor assassinations, small strikes on the Rebel forces... They haven't been pushed to their limits yet, so they're a waste of the Alliances time and money. You have to give them this mission!  
  
  
B: Hundreds of our agents have failed to track down the Phoenix. What makes you think your little experiment will succeed where they have failed?  
  
  
A: Because all of your agents are human, Colonel. Project Titan was created specifically for these circumstances, where humans couldn't do the job. They're stronger, faster, and smarter than your agents. I'm willing to put all five of them on this one mission, to the exclusion of all else.  
  
  
B: You're willing?! Director, if I decide to give you this mission for your little creations, you damn well better put them all on the case.   
  
  
A: They can find this Phoenix person, if he really does exist.  
  
  
B: So you've heard the rumors that the Phoenix is just a name for a group of leaders among the Rebels, or whoever happens to be responsible for whatever success they're having.   
  
  
A: You must admit it's unlikely that one Phoenix is responsible for all of the strikes against us, all of the times our own strikes have failed.  
  
  
B: It is unlikely, but we haven't ruled out that possibility yet. For now, though, I will be assigning your creatures to find out who the Phoenix is...  
  
  
A: If he exists.  
  
  
B: If he exists, and capturing him.  
  
  
A: No kill?  
  
  
B: No kill. If such a person as the Phoenix exists, we want them brought in for questioning. They would have enough knowledge of the Rebels that we could crush them with one blow. Besides, we may want them for other reasons...  
  
  
A: You know something about the Phoenix.  
  
  
B: Not really. It's just a rumor I once heard, years ago. I've already transmitted all relevant data to your computer. You distribute it as you see fit. All requests for supplies and clearance for missions should be routed through me, as usual.  
  
  
A: Of course. I won't fail you.  
  
  
B: If I thought you would, I wouldn't give you this mission.}}  
  
  
---------------  
  
  
Heero saw the red light on his consul flashing as soon as he entered their room. "We have another mission," he said out loud, and the quiet discussion that had followed him immediately ceased. They had been in another branch of the base, working in simulators so that they became proficient flying a number of different type of planes, shuttles, and other types of weapons.   
  
"It's about time," Kan said, his almost white eyes gleaming. "We haven't been able to strike at the enemy in some time." There was an edge of excitement in his voice, and for a moment Heero paused, just long enough for Kan to get better control of himself.   
  
"What is it?" Michael asked, tossing some of his shoulder-length hair out of his face and behind his shoulder. It had become fashionable in recent years to have slightly longer hair, and he had been chosen to wear that particular style. He put it in a ponytail at his neck when he was on missions.  
  
"We've been ordered to find the Rebel known as the Phoenix," Heero read slowly.  
  
"The Phoenix!" Herc exclaimed. "Finally, they're sending us after the big fish!"  
  
"We're to start immediately. We are to have all the supplies we need, and all the data we require will be at our desks." Heero looked up. "Read through the information they gave us. In ten minutes we're going to have our first operational meeting, to decide on a preliminary course of action." Everyone straightened up or stiffened slightly as he announced the formal beginning to their mission. They all silently moved to their desks.  
  
Heero read through the report in under five minutes. There wasn't much to it - the Alliance didn't have much information about its most dangerous enemy. The Phoenix, a leader among the Rebels, was believed to have taken control of most of the Rebels about a year and a half ago. A few intercepted phone calls led Intelligence to believe that the Phoenix was a male, age somewhere between thirty and forty, and a native of the colony. The recording could be used to identify him later, once they narrowed down the search. He was responsible for the destruction of more than one Alliance base in colony Alpha, which was also believed to be his current location, and he also appeared to be the head of a large propaganda assault, painting the Alliance as an evil organization that oppressed it's people. Heero clenched his fist as he read this part - everyone knew that the Alliance was only trying to bring peace to the colonies. They were too young, too sparsely populated to be able to control themselves. Everyone knew that.  
  
But the propaganda had been beginning to take effect, and was generating sympathy for the Rebels, sympathy they had never had before because of a few selective strikes by the Alliance. Those people who died in those strikes were sacrificed for the good of the colonies, and for the Alliance as a whole. Mem had said so. The Phoenix dared to portray the Alliance as aggressors? They were protectors of peace!  
  
Spies within the Rebels had failed to even catch a glimpse of the Phoenix, and spies without had fared even worse. There wasn't even enough evidence gathered to prove that there really was a single person who could be identified as the Phoenix.   
  
Everyone had long since finished reading the reports by the time the ten-minute period was up. As it ended, Heero turned to Herc. "Two, what was in your file?" He doubted that Herc would have any information that he hadn't received, but it was best to check. As Herc started reciting the information that Heero already knew, his eyes flicked across the others. Arthur had a thoughtful expression on his face, and Heero decided to ask his opinion next. For all his shortcomings, Arthur had an uncanny way of understanding people's motives, and of gathering evidence from their briefings and forming it into actual information. He was almost always called upon to interrogate the most belligerent prisoners, and he always got answers. The fact that he felt no joy from completing such missions was always a source of confusion for Heero.   
  
When Herc finished, he said, "That was the same as in my report. Was it the same in all of yours?" They all nodded. "Four," he said, and Arthur stiffened.   
  
"One," he said, confirming that they were working on a mission by using his designation instead of his name.   
  
"What do you think about all of this?"  
  
Arthur closed his eyes for a second, then opened them. "The Phoenix is a real person. All of the attacks, the foiled strikes, and the propaganda message, they all have the same... the same feel to them."  
  
Heero nodded, accepting Arthur's statement at face value, even though he hadn't seen it. That was why he had asked for Arthur's opinion. "What else?"  
  
"I also think there may be something to the name that may help us identify the Phoenix. In mythology, the Phoenix was a firebird that rose from the ashes of its parent's body. The name may have significance to the Rebels, or to the Phoenix himself. For now, though, I recommend we pick up as many Rebels as we can, question them ourselves, so that we can be sure of the result. No human is perfect - someone must have seen the Phoenix, or heard a name, or something. We can continue from there as the circumstances dictate. There really isn't enough information here to do anything with yet."  
  
"Four," Michael said quietly, "Can you tell us anything more about the Phoenix himself from this data?"  
  
Arthur hesitated. "Three... I'm not sure."  
  
"You're not sure?" Herc sounded disgusted.   
  
"No, I'm not," Arthur said patiently, and Heero was surprised at the strength in his voice. Usually when Herc or Kan taunted him Arthur withdrew, studying at his desk or going to the practice room. He mentally revised his opinion of Arthur. "But this is my impression - I don't think we should trust the few intercepted messages we have."  
  
"The ones that were used to tell us that the Phoenix is a male colonist?" Michael asked. "Why?"  
  
"The Phoenix has be so careful with everything else - we don't even have any real evidence that he even exists, it seems very out of character that he would be so careless as to let his voice be captured on tape."  
  
"You think it's a setup," Kan said seriously. Although he was as quick as anyone to taunt Arthur for his weaknesses, he also knew Arthur's strengths and respected them.   
  
"That's what I'm not sure about. I'm pretty sure that he knew his voice was being recorded, but I don't know if it really is his voice. It could be that he sounds nothing like that, that he's from earth or mute or whoever knows what else. Or that could be his voice. In any case, I don't think that we should rely on being able to use that recording to identify him."  
  
"I agree," Heero said when Arthur was finished. "Does anyone else have any suggestions? If not, I say we go ahead with Four's plan."  
  
No one had any other suggestions, and he ordered them to search through all the files they had on the Rebels, to pick out likely targets who might know something about the Phoenix.  
  
  
------------  
  
  
Arthur surveyed the body language and face of the man he was interrogating, and judged that the man was about to break. He'd been in captivity for four days now, with few foods, all lacking in nutrition, no light, and no company. Earlier this morning Arthur had ordered him sent to the chamber, managing to keep his face serene as he did so, even though inside he alternately trembled in fear and cried because of what the man was about to go through. He left the man in for only fifteen minutes, but that had been enough for the man to confess that he was a Rebel, and to name a large number of his accomplices, many of whom the Alliance had no prior knowledge of. But Arthur wasn't done with him yet. He knew, through long experience, that there were ways of resisting the chamber. Even if one wasn't conditioned to it, there were ways to wall things off inside of you, so that when you gave in, you didn't give in everything. It was that information that he was looking for, the most well protected secret in the galaxy, the identity of the Phoenix.   
  
He judged that a prisoner was weakest not when in the chamber, not even right after he had been removed, when he was betraying those closest to him. That crucial moment came several hours after, when the prisoner began to believe that he really had protected that inner knowledge. Then was the time to strike. The time had almost come.  
  
Arthur had been in the room with the man for several hours now, waiting for the right moment. The room was darkened, with the only light shining directly on top of the man. He was bound in a chair with a blindfold over his eyes, increasing his sense of helplessness. Arthur wore a mask over his face and a device around his throat that changed his voice from the light child's voice that it usually was to something deep and growling. There was no way the man could know what his captor looked like.   
  
The door slid open silently, and Heero walked in. He looked at Arthur, and his lips moved silently, but Arthur could read them, and saw him ask, "Anything yet?"  
  
Arthur shook his head in the negative, then pulled the mask up high enough so that Heero could see his lips, and said silently, "It will be in the next few minutes. Then we'll know if he really knows anything."  
  
Heero nodded and walked silently back out of the room. Arthur pulled the mask back down and went back to waiting. The man didn't know that Arthur had been with him all this time, didn't know his every movement was being observed. Suddenly the man, who had been slumped in the chair, supported only by his bonds, straightened up a little, raising his head from his chest and pushing his shoulders back slightly. Arthur moved forward. It was time.  
  
He raised a fist and punched the helpless man in the stomach, then, as the man bent over as far as he could, winded from the blow, backhanded him across the face. "You stupid fool," he sneered, putting as much callous disregard and contempt as he could in those words. "You think you've beaten us, protected something, but you haven't." For a brief instant he saw a flash of panic on the man's face before he concealed it, and Arthur knew that the man had, in fact, hidden something. Forcing back the pain at what he must now do, Arthur forced himself to laugh in a low voice, and the man shivered. "You will be able to protect nothing," he sneered, picking up a hypospray. He put it next to the man's throat and injected him there.   
  
Injections with hyposprays were usually given in the arm, where they could barely be felt. In the sensitive skin around the throat, there was no doubt that the man had felt it. "I've just injected you with a sort of truth serum," he said in a conversational tone, suddenly switching tactics. Keep him confused, off guard, and he'll be more susceptive to the strike. "Once it takes effect, you will no doubt tell me every secret that you've ever had in your entire life. We use it as a way to verify what was learned in the chamber, but it is far more comprehensive, a safeguard unless you managed to conceal something from us. I've been told it's quite painful if you try to resist, so please don't." Actually, Arthur knew from personal experience exactly how painful it was.  
  
The serum he'd used did have all of the effects that Arthur had described, but, like the chamber, it could be resisted. But not if the subject was suitably prepared. By waiting until this moment, when the prisoner had almost thought that he'd escaped, Arthur had made himself seem almost like a mind-reader. By telling him part of the truth about the serum, he convinced the prisoner that this time there really was no escape. With that firmly in his mind, and still confused from other drugs, lack of sleep, and his earlier experience in the chamber, the man would believe he had no option but to talk. And so he would. Arthur slapped him again, keeping him off balance while the serum could take effect. It took less than a minute.  
  
"What was it you didn't tell us before?!" he demanded, switching tactics again. "Tell me now!" Here was the crucial moment where Arthur found if he'd prepared the man properly, or if the man would see through his tactics, meaning months of interrogations to find this last piece of evidence, and possibly never getting it.  
  
The man shook his head from side to side, his face creased in pain. Arthur hadn't been lying about the pain if the man tried to resist. "No no no no nononono!" the man murmured, shaking his head more rapidly.  
  
"What do you know!" Arthur shouted, striking the man again, and felt something inside the man give. Not a bone or tendon, he was far too careful to do actual damage, but something emotional, a wall coming down.  
  
"I heard..." the man gasped, still shaking his head. Now his entire body was shaking, tears running down his face at the pain he had to be feeling, still trying to resist.  
  
"Yes? What did you hear?"  
  
"Once, I overheard, it was an accident, I wasn't supposed to..." the man said, sounding almost as if he was talking in his sleep.   
  
"What did you hear?!"  
  
"I heard someone say the name Krace, and then..." he cut himself off again.  
  
"WHAT?!"  
  
"I heard that he... something about contacting the Phoenix."  
  
"Krace is in contact with the Phoenix?"  
  
"Yes," the man said, and broke down sobbing. Arthur backed away. There was nothing left. He opened the door and found Heero waiting there, also wearing a mask.  
  
"What did you get?"  
  
"A connection," Arthur said. "You'll want to study the tape for yourself before you hear my opinions."  
  
Heero nodded his agreement of this, then his eyes flicked to the prisoner. "What about him?"  
  
Arthur didn't look at the man he had reduced to a sobbing shell of who he once had been. The man knew that he had betrayed his deepest secret, knew friends and colleagues would die because of him. Chances were he would never recover emotionally or intellectually from that. "I recommend that he be sent to a work camp on Earth," Arthur said, aware that sparing the man's life at this point was somewhat of a wasted effort. But he still couldn't bring himself to kill when he had another option.  
  
Heero nodded, and Arthur moved forward, closing the door behind him.   
  
"Good job," Mem said, clapping him on the shoulder. Arthur nodded, raised his hand in salute, and saw a pleased smile on Mem's face.   
  
Arthur made it back to their room. It was empty. He sank down onto his cot, trembling violently with suppressed emotions, and finally started sobbing himself. He cried silently, with no tears coming from his eyes. The only indication that he cried at all was the shaking of his shoulders and the deep, rasping breaths he took from time to time. I destroyed him. I didn't even kill him and I still destroyed him. Worse than that, I left him alive so that he will have to live with it. It would have been better to kill him and end it. He cried for several minutes, for everything he had done to that man, and everything that had been done to him. Finally he got control of himself.  
  
"Are you all right?"  
  
"Michael!" Arthur gasped, horrified that Michael had been standing there and he hadn't noticed.  
  
"What's wrong?"  
  
Arthur automatically looked into the corner, where the camera that always recorded them was located. The red light that signaled it was running wasn't lit, the way it had always been for as long as Arthur could remember.   
  
"We have some privacy," Michael told him. "Real privacy," he added, glancing up at the light, where Arthur knew the second, hidden camera was located. Had Michael disabled that one as well?  
  
"You shouldn't have done that," he said in a low voice. "They'll punish you..."  
  
"What were you doing?" Michael asked again. "I didn't risk getting punished for you not to answer my question. Were you crying again?"  
  
Arthur bit his lip to keep from starting again and nodded bitterly. "What's wrong with me, Michael? I want to serve the Alliance, I really do. I want to be strong, like you and Heero and the rest. What's wrong with me that I can't do what is necessary?"  
  
"You do what is necessary," Michael reminded him. "Have you ever failed a mission?"  
  
"No, but it isn't the same," Arthur said. "You know that. I feel things that I shouldn't - sometimes I don't want to complete my mission, and I've never felt pleasure after killing someone."  
  
"You haven't?" Michael sounded surprised. "Never?"  
  
Arthur shook his head. "I just... I just don't want to fight, yet I want to fight for the Alliance. Do you understand?" he asked, with no real hope that Michael would understand.  
  
"No, I don't," Michael said honestly. "But that's because I don't feel the things that you do. I've been thinking about this, about your problem, and I think I might know, maybe, what it is."  
  
"What?"  
  
"You're just a little more human than the rest of us."  
  
"What?!"  
  
"Think about it. You feel something for humans, something that the rest of us don't. That something is called empathy. It's what humans feel for each other when one is hurt or upset. You feel it too, don't you?"  
  
"It doesn't make any sense," Arthur said, not wanting to believe it. "I was created, just like you, and I was trained the same. I'm not human, any more than you are, or this bed is."  
  
"I didn't say I understood it, I just think that's what it is. You've always been a little different, haven't you?"  
  
Arthur suddenly averted his eyes, afraid that Michael would see something in them, the way Arthur saw something in the prisoners he interrogated. "It's true, isn't it?" Michael asked, watching Arthur closely. "What is it?"  
  
Arthur looked at the ground, ashamed of himself. "I have dreams."  
  
"You have what?!"  
  
"Dreams, like the ones that our instructors described for us. Things that I think about during my sleep that never happened to me. Strange things that don't make sense. Not very often, only once every couple of months, but I've had them all my life."  
  
"You must be part human."  
  
"I'm not, and you know it. I am just bad inventory. They probably would have destroyed me, but there was so much time and money put into me that it would have been a huge waste. I'm just like you guys, only I'm weak, and I don't want to be. Do you have any ideas what I can do? I want to be able to work for the Alliance without any of these strange feelings, without ever hesitating to do what needs to be done."  
  
"I've never experienced anything like what you describe," Michael said, and if Arthur didn't know better, he would have suspected a hint of envy in Michael's voice. "All I can suggest is that you always remember what's at stake. We are protecting humans by serving the Alliance, and when you have to kill, it's also in service of the Alliance, so you're still protecting humans. Just remember that whenever you start to hesitate."  
  
Arthur nodded. It was good advice, and might help him to serve the Alliance better. "I'll do that."  
  
"Good. Now what did you find out from the prisoner?"  
  
"He said that he heard someone named Krace is in contact with the Phoenix."  
  
"Not Ambassador Krace?"  
  
"That's what I think. He's been known to have Rebel sympathies for some time, and he has strong ties with the colonies. He even adopted a colonist orphan for his daughter. He fits our profile for someone likely to go over to the enemy, and is in the position to send lots of information, valuable information about the way the Alliance operates, to the Rebels."  
  
"I never would have suspected him."  
  
"None of us did, which may be why the Phoenix chose him. But at least it's something to go on."  
  
"It is indeed. Arthur, you may not be quite as good a killer as Heero or Kan, but you have your strengths, and they can be impressive."  
  
Arthur wasn't sure what to say. He'd never received a compliment like that before. It was made even better by the knowledge that Michael's words were spoken honestly, without a hint of jealousy or deception about him. Arthur never knew what to think or believe when he was praised by his instructors, whom he knew had only their own motives in mind whenever they said anything to him, but Michael's praise he could trust. "Thank you, Michael."  
  
  
------------  
  
  
Heero stared through binoculars through the window of Ambassador Krace's living room, where he sat reading some papers. The papers were important documents signed by members of the Alliance Senate asking Krace for his opinion on the colonist's feelings toward a number of subjects that concerned the Alliance. As he watched, Krace started dictating responses to the letters.  
  
Heero sighed. Several weeks of watching Krace round-the-clock had produced no results. The others, when not taking their turns watching Krace, had been chasing down every other lead they'd produced, with no results. It seemed the only real good lead they'd had was going nowhere. The ambassador rarely had so much as a free hour to himself, much less the amount of time it would take if he really was in contact with the most powerful person among the Rebels. Still they were keeping a watch on him, on the off-chance that there might be some connection they had missed.   
  
Heero changed the circulation in his legs slightly so that he wouldn't get stiff, and went back to watching the house. A slight movement in the corner of his eye caught his attention. He immediately swung his binoculars around and observed a figure dressed in black climbing over the gate and moving silently onto the premises, slipping past the Ambassador's excellent security with an ease Heero hadn't been able to manage. The way the person moved signaled a great deal of familiarity with the system. Was someone trying to kill Krace? He doubted it was a member of the Alliance. Krace was too well known, a figure far too much in the spotlight to be simply assassinated. No thief would be stupid enough to try to get through this house when there were many others less well guarded with more to lure them. So who was it?  
  
He watched the figure until they passed out of view around the corner of the house. Knowing there was no way he could get to a vantage point where he could see that side of the house before the intruder could get clear, he waited again for some response from inside the house. There was none for several minutes, until he was about to give up and report the incident to his superiors. But just before he did that, the ambassador's daughter came walking into view. She smiled and greeted her father with open arms and a kiss. Heero wouldn't have noticed anything but for one important fact - underneath the soft silk robe she wore, and above the fluffy slippers, he saw she wore black stockings.  
  
It could have meant nothing, simply that she had worn the clothes earlier today and hadn't bothered to change out of them yet, but he wasn't ready to accept that as an excuse, not so soon after he saw a figure in black sneak across the grounds. He watched, holding his breath in anticipation as she said goodnight to her father. Before she went upstairs, she closed the drapes to the living room, cutting off Heero's view. He quickly switched to the infrared goggles, and saw her climbing the stairs. She walked into her rooms, where the drapes were already closed, and switched off the light. But she didn't go to bed - she walked into another room, one that was too far away for him to see using the goggles, and disappeared.   
  
Heero waited another few minutes to make sure she didn't reappear, then gathered up his things and headed back to base.  
  
  
---------------  
  
  
"It's the daughter," Heero declared as he barged into their room. He had an expression of excitement on his face, and that alone would have been enough to draw Arthur's attention away from the recordings of other people's interrogations that he was supposed to be studying. He, Michael, and Herc were all reviewing their own leads. Kan was performing his own investigation - they hadn't seen him in almost a month, which meant that he must be deep undercover. It had happened fairly often on Umbra Space Station, most often with Heero or Kan, but all of them had disappeared without warning at least once.  
  
"Whose daughter?" Michael asked.  
  
"Ambassador Krace isn't the Phoenix's contact," Heero said, immediately seating himself at his desk. "It's his daughter."  
  
"Rina?" Michael asked.   
  
"Yes, that's her name," Heero said, typing rapidly. "I saw a figure dressed in black sneak all the way across their land..."  
  
"Through their security?" Herc asked doubtfully.   
  
"Yes, through the security, but I lost sight of them when they went around the corner of the house. No alarm was sounded, but a few minutes later the daughter came walking into the living room. She had on a robe and slipper, but under that I saw black stockings! She's got to be the contact, taking information from her father and passing it along to the Phoenix. We never caught her father doing anything because he doesn't actually do anything, he just passes it on to his daughter. She has the free time that her father doesn't - it's got to be her!"  
  
"Wait a minute," Arthur said, calling up the girl's file on his terminal. "She's only fourteen. Still just a child. You don't think the ambassador's going to risk his daughter's life like that, do you? Humans don't do that sort of thing. The Rebels could have just given him a person in his household, a maid or something. Why would he risk his daughter?"  
  
Heero paused. "I don't know, but we've already looked into the background of everyone in the house. They haven't hired anyone new in over five years, well before the Phoenix ever showed up, so that can't be it. You have to admit it's a possibility that the girl is the contact."  
  
Arthur nodded. "There are historical precedents of a few young children participating in events like this. Very few, but those who do are often known to have tremendous impact. It's true that a child is less likely to be considered dangerous - after all, we overlooked her." He started looking through the file, aware that the others would be doing the same. There wasn't much about her, mostly notes from agents who had been assigned to watch her father. She was a colonist, adopted by the ambassador fourteen years ago from an orphanage on Alpha colony. Her school records were unimpressive - she was a bright girl, but nothing outstanding, a good athlete, didn't get in trouble. Few friends... but one of those friends was Julia Surd, the daughter of a representative that Heero had assassinated years ago. Hmmm. It was a possible motive. For centuries loyalty to friendships had been one of the driving motives for humans; the girl could have seen helping her father contact the Phoenix as a way to get back at the people who killed her friend's father. It was a weak link, but it was a link. He told this to the others.   
  
"Four, you continue the surveillance on the father, and the rest of you keep following up on your leads. We can't afford to drop everything for this one lead - not yet. In the meantime, I'm going to start watching the girl. If she really is in contact with the Phoenix..." he turned to Arthur. "Can you break her?"  
  
Arthur looked at one of the images in the file, one of the more publicized images of the girl, sobbing as she clung to her father after witnessing Representative Surd's assassination. Execution, he reminded himself. Surd was trying to hurt the Alliance and all of it's people. His death was necessary to protect others. Still, a lump formed in his throat as he nodded to Heero. "Not a problem. She's just a kid. It would probably take only a few hours, no preparation needed." He switched to a more recent photo of her - she was fourteen now, but looked younger. Apparently she hadn't hit puberty yet, because she still looked like a child of ten or eleven, with no sign of the changes that heralded the oncoming of her becoming a woman. He tried not to think about what would happen to her if Heero was right, and she was connected with the Rebels.  
  
"Good. I want you to make preparations for that eventuality, in case I am right."  
  
Arthur nodded again, then shut off the screen so that he wouldn't have to look at the face of the little girl he would probably have to torture.  
  
  
  
  
  



	7. Part 6

On the fourth day after Heero began his surveillance, he hadn't seen anything concrete, but his suspicions were growing greater. He'd been following the girl everywhere, and got the impression that she was aware of that fact, although she didn't look around often, the first sign that most people gave to indicate that they knew they were being followed. No, his impression came from the way she moved, sometimes fast, sometimes slow, darting in and out of stores in a way that could be expected of girls that age, but in a way that didn't seem to be natural for her. What really disturbed him was that she had managed to lose him on several occasions, something that she shouldn't have been able to do under any circumstances, no matter how lucky she was.   
  
He didn't even have anything to tie her to the Rebels. He couldn't get into the ambassador's house, so he couldn't get into the hidden room that Heero now knew existed, so there was no proof to be had there. Once he thought he had almost caught her meeting with a known Rebel, but she somehow called off the meeting before the two did more than pass each other in a crowded mall. On the other hand, it could have been coincidence that she just happened to pass the Rebel in the mall - there were a lot of people there. He still had no solid evidence that she had anything to do with the Rebels - whoever had taught her had taught her well.   
  
On the fourth day, when she was headed home from school, she did something very odd. Instead of taking the normal route, she headed into a bad section of town, a dangerous place not at all appropriate for pretty young girls. She seemed to have a specific destination in mind as she wove through the dirty streets, somehow managing to avoid the pickpockets, muggers, and rapists who had to be following her. Heero's sense of unease grew, but that couldn't erase the growing feeling of excitement within him. There was no reason for an ambassador's daughter to be here, unless she was connected with the Rebels.   
  
At the end of a particularly dark alleyway she paused, and glanced around guiltily. He smiled grimly - she had known that she was being followed. He was almost a hundred meters back, even if she knew she was being followed and knew what he looked like, she wouldn't be able to recognize him from there. After a few moments she stopped looking and slipped into the alley. He quickly ran up to the edge of the alley, then pulled out the dart gun he carried. There was to be no risk that the girl might be killed before she could be brought back to Arthur for questioning. He peered around the corner into the alley. It was very dark, and it took a moment for his eyesight to adjust. When it did, he saw a figure sitting at the end of the alley, with a dirty blanket thrown over it. Was it her? No scrap of skin, no hair or clothing showed beneath that dirty blanket that might tell him. It was probably her, but if it wasn't, if it really was an old beggar, and he shot the beggar with a dart, she might be watching from somewhere else, and be armed against it next time.  
  
Carefully keeping the dart gun trained on the figure, he slowly advanced into the alley. "Stand up," he ordered in a low voice. "I've got a gun trained on you."  
  
Suddenly the figure straightened up, and he realized that they'd been crouching, not sitting, a moment before a regular gun was brought into line with his head. The girl stood there facing him, without a trace of fear on her face. "My gun is real, whereas yours is just a dart gun," she said in a low voice. "If you shoot me, that will still give me enough time to get off a shot, and I'll kill you. It might take me a few hours or a few days to wake up, but I have friends in this neighborhood who will protect me, whereas all the attention you'll get is who will take your clothes off your dead body. Drop the gun now, and kick it over to me, and put your hands on your head."  
  
He realized that what she said was true, and dropped his gun, raising his hands. She still didn't know what he was, that he wasn't human. All it would take would be a slight wavering of the gun, and then he'd attack. No amount of training could protect her from what he was. He kicked the gun towards her, but intentionally aimed it a few feet to the side and behind her, so that maybe she'd drop the gun a little when she picked it up. No such luck. The gun stayed firmly trained on his head, as did her eyes as she picked up his weapon. She examined it without moving the gun. "What's in here?" she demanded. He didn't respond.   
  
She smiled slightly. "I should thank you for bringing this," she said, stepping forward a little. He saw an open box behind her, one with bright blue lining and a cleanliness that contrasted sharply with the outside, which looked like garbage. Inside he saw a needle and several vials of a clear chemical. His eyes widened at the implications. "The best I could do was a needle, and I'm not sure I trust myself to inject you without getting hurt. This is much better."  
  
Trap! His mind shouted as she raised the dart gun to face him. The darts would knock out a human in a second, but it would take more than one to down him. He had to use that to his advantage - she would be assuming that he was human. He threw himself at her, but before he'd made it a meter closer he heard three rapid fire shots, and looked down to see three darts imbedded in his chest a moment before everything went black.  
  
------------  
  
When Heero woke up, he was in a completely white room, lying on a low mattress, wearing a straightjacket with reinforced cloth that even he couldn't rip. Damn it. Heero couldn't believe he'd been so careless as to have allowed himself to be caught by the enemy. Well, they wouldn't get any information from him. He looked around the room, but there was no other furniture except the low mattress. Nothing he could use to escape, or even to destroy himself so that they couldn't question him. Someone had planned this well. He cursed himself for so vastly underestimating the girl - she'd obviously had more training then they knew, more than they ever could have guessed, based on the way she handled that gun.   
  
The door at the opposite end of the room slid open, and the girl walked in. She hadn't changed out of her school uniform, which made the dart gun in her right hand even more obvious. In her other hand she carried a folding chair, which she set down and sat in as the door closed behind her. "Sorry about the straightjacket," she said in a conversational voice, "But I don't trust you not to attack me. If you behave yourself, we'll see about getting it off in a few days."  
  
Her tone surprised him - this wasn't the way an interrogation was supposed to start, he'd sat in on and conducted enough of them to know. There had been no isolation, no protein-starvation - he didn't expect the Rebels to have anything like the chamber, but he had expected they would have something equivalent. He kept his exterior calm as his mind raced. She... they're trying to keep me off balance, to prepare me for torture. I won't tell them anything.  
  
"By now you're wondering what you're doing here, and what we want with you," she continued. "I expect that you're expecting torture, the sort of thing that the Alliance does to our people when you catch them. But I know your training, One, and I know that the chances of you telling us anything are practically nonexistent."  
  
He stiffened when she used his designation. How had she known that?!   
  
She smiled slightly. "And now you want to know how I know so much about you. The Phoenix decided when you started to follow me that I would be in charge of your questioning once we caught you, since you already know my face. No need to expose any more of our people to you if it's avoidable. In preparation for this, he showed me your files, everything we have on you, which is to say everything the Alliance has on you. I know how you were created, what your abilities are, everything. And since we have such access to the Alliance's records that we can access even your files, I'm sure it's not hard for you to believe that there's really nothing of value you can tell us that we don't already know."  
  
He still didn't reply, but his mind was whirling with the implications. They hadn't realized how easily and thoroughly the Phoenix had penetrated the Alliance's defenses, especially after Arthur reconfigured the system years ago. There had been a few intrusions they had detected, but nothing like what this girl was saying. She's still lying, still trying to prepare me for interrogation, was his first thought, which he almost immediately rejected. If they knew his designation, then they really did have the access she claimed. Or had she just guessed?  
  
"But I don't really expect you to believe anything I tell you - you'll figure it out for yourself, in time. For now, I just want to answer one more of your questions before you can think of it. The question is, why would we want to hold you like this if you have no information that we want or need? Why not just kill you and eliminate a powerful enemy of the Rebels? If I trapped you, I most certainly can trap the others. It would be a simple matter to eliminate all of you, strike a blow that the Alliance might never be able to recover from."  
  
A chill ran down Heero's spine as he realized that what she was saying was true, that she would certainly be able to eliminate the others that way. He waited for her to finish her statement.  
  
She didn't disappoint him. "The answer to that is quite simple. The Phoenix believes that you can be great allies to the Rebels, once you join us."  
  
Shock forced words from his mouth. "You're crazy."  
  
"Quite possibly," she said, standing up. She nodded at the door, and it opened. Several men wearing masks walked in. Each of them carried a stack of papers that they lay on the ground next to the mattress, always being careful to stay out of his reach.  
  
He didn't even look at them, keeping his attention focused on the opposite wall. They'd have nothing from him. He noticed, out of the corner of his eye, that they withdrew, taking the girl's chair with them. The girl slowly began backing out of the room. "Some reading material." She jerked her head towards the stacks of papers. "We'll continue this discussion later. You'll be sent food. Whether you choose to eat it or not is your choice, but it doesn't make any sense for us to drug it, and if you refuse to eat anything for several days, we're going to assume that you're trying to starve yourself, and start giving you injections of nutrients. The choice is yours." She stepped through the door, and it closed behind her.  
  
--------------  
  
The girl didn't return for several days.   
  
Heero had come to a decision during the first night, during the time when he lay awake for hours, waiting for day to come since his body had never required more than an hour's sleep. He'd decided that the only way he was getting out of here would be through the girl. The security was good, but they'd made a mistake in keeping him in the control of a child. She might know what he was intellectually, but that didn't mean she understood what he was. He knew enough about psychology to make many psychologists jealous - children were notoriously easy to control precisely because they were children. He wouldn't tell her anything she didn't know already, but he might be able to get her to reveal a little bit about the Phoenix. It was worth a try.  
  
It was extremely frustrating the next day when she didn't return so that he could speak to her. Armed, masked guards came in four times a day, twice in the morning to drop off a meal and pick it up, and twice again in the afternoon for the same purpose. They never spoke to him, nor did they ever remove the straightjacket, forcing him to eat his meals on his knees. Was this some sort of primitive interrogation technique? It was irritating, certainly, but hardly what he would consider a torture method.  
  
Because he had nothing else to do, he started reading the papers, using his bare feet to shuffle through them. It was a confused jumble of things, individual accounts by people of attacks the Alliance had made on them, various classified documents the Alliance sent out ordering attacks, public files from before the Alliance took over the colony. It was exactly what he would have expected from the Rebels, a pack of lies, sloppily put together. And that was what alarmed him. He would have expected that they would have at least tried to put a better face forward for him, if they were trying to recruit him. I have to remember, it's the Phoenix I'm really facing, not that girl. And the Phoenix had been outwitting the Alliance for years. But he's never come up against me.  
  
Most likely the jumble of papers was intended exactly for that purpose - to make him uneasy. Certainly no one, not even a Rebel human, would expect him to believe that was the truth. He knew for a fact that the Alliance had killed civilians, he had killed several himself, but that was always because they posed a danger to the Alliance, and therefore to the people the Alliance protected. Those few lives were worth the thousands they protected. But why would the Alliance stage raids on small farming colonies, of all things? The papers had to be to confuse him, because no one would ever expect him to believe such stupidity.   
  
Something within him remained uneasy, though, even after he had thought it through. Knowing what he did about the Phoenix, and assuming that he was the same person they'd faced all these years, maybe even the original intruder that they'd chased through the Alliance's computer, he had to expect layers and layers of reasons behind every action. It had been too easy to figure out this plan, which meant there must be something he missed. Unless that was the next layer, to make him think that he'd missed something when he really hadn't. Heero closed his eyes. This was what made the Phoenix so dangerous - he could create these logical loops, where there was no way to figure out what he was planning based on past actions.   
  
One day, as he was reviewing the fake files in his head, trying to see some sort of pattern in them, he got an idea of another way to approach the problem. He wasn't getting anywhere, looking at the information as the lies he knew they were, so he decided to assume that they were telling the truth, and try to figure out what she was thinking that way.   
  
Almost immediately he had to give it up. He couldn't think that way about the Alliance, even just as an exercise. The papers had to be lies, all of them, because if they were true, then everything the Alliance had ever told him had been a lie, and that just wasn't possible. Why not? he demanded of himself, trying to figure out why he couldn't think this way, even just as an exercise. I belong to the Alliance, and I serve them, and the people, he found himself repeating the words he'd heard so often, and almost frowned, his frustration was so great. In the eyes of the Rebels, the lies they were telling him were obviously true, so in order to get into their heads, he had to figure out why they believed that, but he couldn't do it. How could they be so wrong? The Alliance was there to protect people. It would never have done the things that they said it did. Still... why couldn't he even think that way?!   
  
It must be because it's so ridiculous. I know the Alliance, I know my duty, and I know the truth. The things they're saying... they aren't true, couldn't be true in the mind of anyone sane. The Alliance... He dropped that train of thought. It wasn't getting him anywhere, and he went back to his previous analysis, trying to figure out what the Phoenix had been planning. But a thought kept intruding into his mind, a question that he couldn't ignore. Why was it that he couldn't think about the Alliance that way, even just in practice?  
  
The girl didn't return until six days after he was first captured.  
  
----------  
  
"You've behaved yourself," she remarked as she came in, still holding his dart gun. She pointed it at him and nodded towards the door. Two very large men wearing masks came in. "Untie him," she instructed the men. To Heero she said, "If you try to attack them, I'll shoot you." Heero didn't move as they finally removed the straightjacket. The two men exited without saying a word, leaving the girl behind. "You've read what I left for you?"  
  
He nodded. "How, exactly, do you expect to get me to join you?" he asked. "I hope you have something more persuasive than these lies," he nodded towards the papers. "Or I will be very disappointed in the Phoenix, if that's the best he can do."  
  
Her eyes narrowed slightly, and she hesitated for a moment before answering. "Those aren't lies, and you won't be disappointed with the Phoenix. He has some plans for you."  
  
Heero managed not to smile with great difficulty. The girl had already made a slip. Now he knew that the Phoenix was indeed a 'he'! "And what are they?" he asked, keeping his voice perfectly neutral.  
  
"We don't intend to hurt you or bend your mind at all, because I know that's what you're thinking. That's been done enough times by the Alliance already. They made a mistake when they trained you - they taught you the basic principals of right and wrong, and they lied to you about the Alliance. They would have been better off just telling you to obey the Alliance, but someone had to get tricky and lie to you. Tell me, why do you serve the Alliance?"  
  
"Why should I tell you?" he retorted.  
  
She stared at him without speaking for several long seconds, then said, "Does this sound familiar? 'I belong to the Alliance, and I serve it, and the people.'" He stared at her. "I told you how much access the Phoenix has to your computer. Don't you think that the phrase they brainwashed you with would be a little obvious? My question is, whom do you hold allegiance to? The Alliance, or the people?"  
  
"I serve the Alliance and the people."  
  
"I'm surprised you managed to get out that phrase without repeating the whole thing," she commented, then sighed, looking a lot like a human kid, instead of a Rebel soldier. "Sorry, it doesn't work that way. The two groups are mutually exclusive. You work for the Alliance *or* for the people. You can't have it both ways."  
  
He didn't bother to respond to such an obvious lie, but part of his mind was working on something she'd said before. ...the phrase they brainwashed you with... He knew that it was just another one of her lies, and that he should dismiss it as such. He would have, except that just a few days earlier, when he'd tried to look at things like a Rebel, that was the phrase that had popped into his mind. No, it wasn't brainwashing, it was loyalty, he thought automatically, but that only made him distrust that conclusion even more.   
  
She continued. "*I* serve the people, by fighting the Alliance. I ask you again. Who do you serve, the Alliance or the people?"  
  
"The Alliance is an organization dedicated to peace. Everything we do is towards that goal, to preserve the peace."  
  
"The Alliance is an organization dedicated to control," she corrected him. "The colonies had a notoriously low crime rate until the Alliance started stationing its troops here. We had high morale and respect for our surroundings, until the Alliance arrived with its random crowd-sweeps and careless soldiers. Do you know how many people run the climate-control computer?"  
  
He did, but he wasn't telling her.  
  
"Over two hundred. That's how many people it takes to undo the damage your soldiers have done to our colony, to the dome. You read the records I left for you, do you remember how many it used to take?"  
  
Heero didn't give her a response, but she didn't seem to be expecting one.  
  
"When the colony was still free, it took less than a dozen." He'd been told that the colonies were on the edge of dying out when the Alliance came in to save them.   
  
Acting as if he had spoken out loud, she said, "As I mentioned before, the Alliance has done quite a bit of lying to you, and they've messed up your head, too, as I'm sure you're finding out." Heero stiffened. How had she known that he was thinking about the way that phrase kept coming up in his mind every time he tried to think about what the Alliance told him?  
  
She studied his face carefully, then stood up, picking up the chair in one hand without putting down the dart gun in the other. "The Phoenix has already given you documents, proof that the Alliance has done much to hurt the colonies. Proof that they've lied to you. Of course, we don't expect you to believe any of it, at least not at first, but after a while it becomes overwhelming. After that, we have to see if you can break the hold their brainwashing has on you.   
  
"Tomorrow the Phoenix will send a few people who remember the old days to talk to you. Please don't attack any of them - for the most part they're old men and women who don't have homes anymore and have nothing left for them. They don't have any information you want, and while their deaths would mean a lot to me personally, it would do nothing to hurt the Rebels."  
  
Heero stared at her, angry for no reason he could think of. She's a Rebel, isn't that reason enough? a voice in his mind whispered to him, but that only reminded him of her impossible, ridiculous claims about brainwashing, and of the doubts those claims had raised. "That's it?" he asked scornfully. "You're not making much of an effort to convince me."  
  
"Nothing I say is going to break the hold the Alliance has on your mind. Only you can do that. I'm just giving you a chance to know the truth."  
  
---------------  
  
The witnesses she sent in disturbed him greatly. They were... well, they believed they were telling him the truth, that much was for sure. Heero had heard of methods used to create fake memories for people, he'd even seen them used on a few prisoners, but never to the extent of these people. They had many memories from those times, quite varied and vivid, as opposed to the vague accounts of those whose memories had been altered. He had to concede the possibility that they actually were telling the truth, that the colony had been a peaceful place until the Alliance showed up. That it had been a better place before the Alliance arrived to bring peace.  
  
At least, that's what logic told him he should do. Everything logical told him that there was something here to investigate, but whenever he thought about the Alliance, trying to think of it the way the girl described, that stupid phrase ran through his mind again. No, not stupid, he told himself, horrified that he'd thought of his oath of loyalty to the Alliance that way.   
  
He tried to tell himself that the way logic was pointing him couldn't be right, that this entire scene was part of some trick he hadn't thought of yet. They were lying to him, there was another layer of lies here, they were trying to twist the truth into something they could use to subvert him. He told himself this over and over and over again, and almost managed to convince himself that this was the truth, but the doubts she'd planted in his head forced him to question even this. Why should he have to convince himself of anything? If the Alliance had told him the truth, why wouldn't logic back them up? Could it be that the Alliance had... No! I belong to the Alliance, and I serve it, and the people!!!  
  
Heero paused as he realized he'd repeated that stupid phrase again. Why can't I think through this?  
  
These doubts were alien to him, and he wanted to dismiss them from his mind. He'd never had doubts of any kind before, much less doubts that the Alliance had told him the truth all these years. But he couldn't just dismiss them. He looked over all the evidence in his mind, and thought, for an instant, that he was behaving as if he'd been brainwashed somehow. Immediately his mind responded by telling him that the Alliance didn't do that, that this had to be some sort of trick. Why?! he silently demanded of himself. I belong to the Alliance, and I serve it, and the people.  
  
Damn it! Heero actually slammed one hand into the side of his head. I have been brainwashed.  
  
No, that's not true, it can't be true, he immediately thought. I belong to the Alliance, and ...  
  
-----------------  
  
On the fifth day, no more of those old humans arrived anymore. Instead, the girl came back. By then he was angrier than he could ever remember being, even towards Rebels, and a good deal of that anger was that he wasn't sure if even the anger was his own, or whether it had been planted there by the Alliance. He couldn't even think about it without repeating that damned phrase, and he was hearing it a lot in his head these days. Worse than that was that he didn't know whether this was all real, or some sort of hallucination cooked up by the Rebels to turn him. His mind immediately latched on to that fact, which again raised his suspicions, that he was so eager to cling to anything that exonerated the Alliance. Exonerated? What had the Alliance done? It brought peace to the colonies, protected the people that lived there from themselves! Everyone knew that they were incapable of taking care of themselves! They were too young, too small...  
  
None of this helped him, because he could clearly remember Mem saying every word of those explanations.  
  
This time the girl brought two chairs, and didn't have the gun. He considered attacking her, but assumed that she had a half-dozen people watching at all times, and that chances were he'd barely touch her before those other people would come barging in. Besides, he wasn't sure he wanted to kill her, not yet. Why not yet?! his mind demanded. She's an enemy of the Alliance! He took the opposite chair.  
  
She stared at him for a long time without speaking, and when she finally did, she said softly, "I'm sorry."  
  
He stared at her. "I don't want your pity."  
  
"I'm not offering my pity. I don't think I could ever offer you that, not knowing what you are. What I am offering is my apology. It's a cruel thing to do, to tell a person that things they've believed for their entire life, things they've based their lives on, aren't true."  
  
"I am a soldier of the Alliance, and you are my enemy," he responded automatically in a flat voice, although he had his doubts now. Or did he? Was this all some elaborate hoax that even he couldn't see through?  
  
"You're not a soldier of the Alliance," she corrected him. "Technically, you belong to the Alliance. You're an experiment, not a soldier."  
  
He wanted to argue with her, wanted to fight against her statement, but it was true. He'd said it himself many times. "Then I belong to the Alliance, and I will remain loyal to them." He wasn't sure about that, either, but the one thing he did know for sure was that he'd never let this child know that he had any doubts, let her know that all this was having an effect on him.  
  
"Who needs your loyalty? You belong to them, after all - your obedience is assured, isn't it?"  
  
"Yes," he replied, but he couldn't help thinking about all the times Arthur had been punished because he had failed to show the same unswerving dedication to the Alliance the others did. That was to make him stronger, his mind reminded him, so he could better serve the Alliance and the people. Is that why the Alliance had brainwashed him? I belong to the Alliance, and I serve it, and the people. Heero closed his eyes for a fraction of a second, trying to clear his mind and remain in control of himself. He realized that the girl was talking again.  
  
"It's an interesting thing," she said, fingering the folder of papers she'd brought with her this time. He eyed the packet warily - it was papers like those that had gotten him into this mess, where he was questioning himself and everything he had ever known, and couldn't be sure whether he could trust his own mind or not. She didn't fight with her fists or guns, not really, she fought with words, and papers like those were her greatest weapons. "We live in a galaxy where slavery is completely illegal, yet you think of yourself as the property of someone else."  
  
"Slavery is a term that applies only to humans. I'm not human," he found himself replying, again automatically.  
  
"And how do you determine that?"  
  
The question caught him off-guard. He'd always been told, and believed, that he wasn't human. Why was that, exactly? "We weren't born. We were created."  
  
"You mean genetic manipulation. That has been performed on millions of fetuses, for everything from determining the sex of an infant to fixing disabilities before they can manifest during pregnancy. All of the original colonists went through some genetic manipulation so they would be better suited to live in space. Becoming albinos was just a side-effect of those changes. Just because you've been changed more than most doesn't mean that you aren't human. The original DNA that was used to create you was human, wasn't it?"  
  
"It was," he admitted, his mind flying ahead, searching for problems with her theory. "But there are other differences, too. We have no emotions, we feel nothing except when completing our missions."  
  
"That's a result of drugs and hypnotic suggestion dating back from when you were infants. Back then those things kept you from feeling normal emotions, and as time passed, you believed it was the truth, which further enforced the things they've done to you. Any child, normal human or with manipulations, would have reacted the same way if they went through the same treatment you did." She pulled a few papers out of the folder. "Look."  
  
Heero immediately saw the Alliance seal at the top of the paper. He read it in a matter of seconds, but absorbing and understanding it was another matter. It was a detailed description of the analysis and instructions of several influential psychologists, explaining how to prepare the subjects of Project Titan so that they would be susceptible to the belief that they had no emotions. After that came the steps that were taken to ensure that both the 'emotional training' took hold - that continued until they were six. A chill ran up and down Heero's spine. It was just the way he'd thought it out, they had been brainwashed, and his inability to think badly of the Alliance was just a symptom of that. That thought immediately brought to mind, I belong to the Alliance, and I serve it, and...   
  
SHUT UP! he shouted to himself.   
  
There were various notes concerning how the training had affected them since then, with the specifics on the way that each of them had reacted, each differently. There was a side note that Four's training hadn't taken hold as strongly as some of the others, bringing up questions about his efficiency. The pages looked authentic. Arthur... is that why he's so different? Not because of a flaw in his design, but because he wasn't conditioned properly to think that he had no emotions? No! his mind shouted. It wasn't true. It couldn't be true!   
  
Before he could get control of himself and try to figure out why it couldn't be true, he was talking. "No," he repeated out loud, crumbling the paper and throwing it away. "It can't be true. Why..." he cut himself off, furious with himself that he'd lost control and let her know how much she was bothering him.  
  
"Why would they do that to you?" she asked, finishing his question. "It's a tie that binds you to them. You see, despite the fact that you've never been anything but loyal to the Alliance, they can't trust you, because they know how dangerous you are. If someone had approached you with a bribe to betray the Alliance, they thought this might stop you, the thought that you would never experience joy again if you left the Alliance."  
  
She's missing part of it, he realized. She doesn't realize that I can't even think badly about the Alliance. What is joy? I wouldn't miss it so much, if I could think... the very attempt almost started another repetition of that phrase. "I'd never betray the Alliance like that." The words came out of his mouth before he could sensor them.  
  
"But they can't trust that. Most of the leaders of the Alliance know that they would betray their employers, if offered enough money and power. They can't understand true loyalty, because they have none. So they keep that tie on you. It's not the only one." Before he could figure out what she meant by that, she continued, "It also increases your value. As long as you are without emotions, you can't feel remorse or pity for your victims. Efficient killers, that's what they were trying to create."  
  
"And they succeeded," he growled. "My efficiency rating is off known charts."  
  
"I wouldn't be so proud of that if I were you," she said. "Your creator didn't want it for you."  
  
"My creator? You mean Mr. Mem?" For a moment he was shocked out of his thoughts. Heero couldn't imagine what she was talking about. Mr. Mem always said that efficiency was their highest priority, his greatest goal.  
  
"Mr. Mem?" she asked, momentarily confused. "Oh, Dr. Yirtz. He wasn't your creator, you know. He was one of three doctors who created you, the least talented among them. His contribution to your genes was actually minimal, but he had what the Alliance considered the right attitude to keep the project on track. When I spoke about your creator, I was talking about Dr. Karen Smith, and also Dr. Richard Ethen."  
  
Heero frowned. "No people with those names are associated with the project."   
  
"Well, they use fake names anyway, but you're right, they aren't associated with the project. Dr. Smith was executed immediately following your birth, for failing to obey orders and for making some unscheduled changes to your genes. Dr. Ethen was forcibly retired. He's suspected of knowing about the changes Smith made and not informing his superiors, but they don't have any proof, so they just packed him up and sent him to one of the old colonies. Those two had very different dreams for you than Yirtz, the one you know as Mem. They had both been coerced into doing the project in the first place, and Smith became more and more resisting as she realized what they were planning for you. Richard also sympathized, and if he believed it was necessary to create weapons to fight the Alliance's enemies, he resisted the idea of the emotional training, which was also one of the reasons he was retired soon after completing his assignment. Of the original three, only Yirtz was willing to do everything his superiors wanted, which is how he remained in control of the project and rose as high as Director." She handed him the rest of the papers she held. "This is a full report on Smith, Ethen, and Yirtz, how they created you, what they wanted, and what happened to them."  
  
Heero grabbed the papers, not knowing what to do. His anger at her was greater than ever, which was even more suspicious. Was he angry at her because she was lying, trying to manipulate him, or because he was angry with the Alliance and the emotional training was making him think it was with the Rebels. He was tempted for a moment to throw the papers across the room and then kill her. Damn it! he thought to himself as he started to read the papers. She'd been right about one thing - he needed to know the truth now, was driven by that need. Even though he knew that it would be something he didn't want to hear - she had said as much - he still needed to know. Damn her! he thought as he opened the file. Then, suspecting the Alliance was behind that thought as well, he thought, Damn all of them! Even he wasn't sure if he was talking about the Rebels or the Alliance. I belong...   
  
Stop it!  
  
It took him less than ten minutes to read through the files. They were everything that she said they would be, how their creators didn't want them to become what they were, how their creators had resisted the Alliance, up to Smith's death and Ethen's virtual exile. But there were a few files missing, and his mind clung to that fact as proof that it was still just the Rebels trying to trick him, even though he knew it wasn't true. "These are all lies," he said, standing up, gripping the papers so hard they crumpled before he dropped them to the ground. "It's all lies," he said, utterly confused as to why he was saying all of this. "Dr. Mem created us, we are what he wanted! I belong to the Alliance, and I serve..." he cut himself off, fighting for control.  
  
She also stood up, a sad expression on her face. "It's the truth," she said softly. "I'm sorry you haven't had the life that Smith and Ethen wanted for you ."  
  
"Shut up!" he shouted, but he wasn't sure if it was at her or at the voices in his head, shouting at him that she was the enemy, and that he belonged to the Alliance, and that he had to destroy her. Pain lanced through his skull as he swung a fist at her, trying to silence at least one of the voices that was running through his mind, confusing him. His speed was far beyond any human's, and his fighting instincts were honed to their top capacity. The blow should have connected solidly with her face and knocked her halfway across the room, maybe breaking bones.  
  
Her hand came up and blocked his punch.  
  
For several seconds he was frozen in shock, his mind startled out of confusion. What had just happened was impossible. No human was fast enough to keep up with him, and even if they were, trying to block his punch should have broken her arm in two. He took a few steps back, then attempted a kick that should have connected solidly with her side. She ducked under it and darted in, landing two solid blows on his stomach before he backed up, out of her range. She wasn't even breathing hard, but he was, gasping for air and rubbing bruised stomach muscles. For her to be able to hit hard enough to cause him pain meant that she was incredibly strong, almost as strong as he was. "You..." he said accusingly as his mind began to function properly again, despite a throbbing pain in his temples, as he tried to find an explanation for the impossible. His thought process was interrupted as a man came running into the room.  
  
He stopped short when he saw Heero, then cast a panicked look at the girl. She stared at him. "What is it?"  
  
He glanced at Heero one more time, then turned his head towards her and raised a hand so that Heero couldn't see his mouth but she could. Heero saw the man's jaw moving up and down a little, and saw the girl's eyes fixed on the man's mouth. She reads lips.  
  
Whatever the man had said startled the girl a lot. She suddenly straightened, and cast an angry, frightened look at Heero. Then she looked at the man, nodded once, and ran out of the room at speeds no human should have been able to reach, the man scrambling after her. The door slid closed behind them, leaving Heero alone with the impossible thought forming in his mind.  
  
  
  
  
  
This was one of the hardest things to write of the entire story. I edited this sections about six times, then threw the whole thing out and rewrote it from scratch because I didn't think it was believable. Did it work this way?  
  



	8. Part 7

Rina's breath came hard as she ran through the streets, trying to make it to the square where her father was making a speech. I can't let him die, she thought desperately as she scrambled up a fire escape, cursing the bolts of cloth that made up her white dress, cloth that was slowing her down now and costing her valuable seconds. She made it to the crest of one building bordering the square just as her father stepped up to the platform to speak. Rina cast her gaze around at all of the neighboring buildings, trying to find the assassin. It would be one of the boys, and he would be on top of the building, or very close to it. There... on the top floor of the building to her right, the farthest window. She recognized him - it was Five. He was already aiming a blaster.   
  
Rina only had a projectile pistol with her, a weapon whose optimum range was well under the distance that separated her from Five. She dropped to her hip and slid down the slanted roof of the building, tearing her clothing but doing no damage to herself. As she slid she automatically shifted into a disguise, making herself look like an Earthling. When she landed at the edge of the roof, she quickly found Five again. She only had seconds left. She raised her pistol, aimed, and fired. The shot hit the concrete of the building below the boy. She raised her aim slightly and fired again. This one hit the windowsill he was leaning on. That got his attention.   
  
Rina heard people start to scream as Five swung his blaster around to aim at her. Rina started running. Her father was safe now, security would already have activated shields around him and gotten him out of sight. Now she had to preserve her own flesh. Rina ran towards the edge of the building, intending to jump to the next building over, which would take her away from the square, and to descend to the street from there. But as she started to jump, her left leg gave out from under her, and she fell into the alley that separated the two buildings. She barely managed to grab onto the fire escape, and the force of her body slamming into the metal fire escape almost made her let go. Then pain blossomed up out of her leg, so strong it made her gasp.   
  
Rina struggled onto the fire escape, then looked at her leg. Fuck, I've been shot! Rina had been seriously been hurt before, but not this badly, and it wasn't a pleasant experience. But the danger of her situation allowed her to push past the pain. Rina's mind cleared as her emotions shut off, leaving her coldly logical and unnaturally calm. He'll come after me, she thought. No, security will have sealed off the square by now. He'll wait until they start letting people through, one at a time, then he'll try to pick me off as I go through. Rina cautiously got to her feet. The leg would hold, but her climbing back to the top of the building was out of the question. Using her hands to support most of her weight, she swung down to the ground, taking all of the impact on her right leg. Then, limping slightly, she pushed her way through the crowd to the base of the podium.   
  
"Patricia," she said in a low voice, standing in the shadows the podium created so that no news camera could see her. She allowed the disguise to fade, and one of her father's guards came rushing over. Rina had been involved with the hiring of most of her father's staff, all of whom were incredibly loyal and had good reason to hate the Alliance. They all knew something of Rina's clandestine activities, although few knew it's true extent.   
  
Patricia's dark eyes widened slightly when she saw the blood staining most of the left side of Rina's white skirt. "Mistress," she hissed. "That was you up there?"  
  
"There was an attempt on father's life," Rina said. "I need your coat. Now."  
  
Patricia immediately pulled off her floor-length black coat and handed it to Rina. Rina put it on after tucking her gun into a hidden holder under her dress. The full-length coat hid both the top of the white dress, which Five had to have seen, but also the blood stain and the fact that she was limping slightly. "All right. Leak this to the press. The ambassador's daughter actually came with him today, and was waiting for him in the car when the fighting started. When it was over she got out of the car and walked under the podium to see if her father was all right, but he sent her away in the company of one of his guards, and has ordered that she stay at home, fearing for her safety. Got it?"  
  
"Got it. Mistress, do you need any help?"  
  
"No," Rina replied, gritting her teeth against the pain that now came in waves upon her. "Is the path to the car clear?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Good. Stand behind me, and be ready to catch me if I fall, but make it look as if I'm fainting, all right?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Let's go." Raising her head high, Rina stepped out from under the podium and started walking out through the open area to the car. She heard whispers as people around her noticed her presence, and tried not to blink as dozens of lightbulbs flashed around her. She managed not to limp at all, and to smile, although both pained her dearly. She also forced herself not to look up at the window where she knew Five still waited. If he recognized her, she'd be dead before she heard the shot. She was relying on the fact that he would be trying to recognize her by hair and clothes, not by face.   
  
Rina crossed the dangerous ground and got into a waiting car without incident. As she leaned back against the seat, she felt relief wash over her. It had been a very near thing.  
  
------------  
  
When the girl returned the next day, there was a brace on her right thigh and she was limping slightly, although she tried to hide it. "What happened?" he asked, surprised to find that his curiosity was real. His mind raced ahead... he knew what he had figured out was true. Would she admit it, or try to lie to him? The throbbing in his head had eased slightly, but something had changed. Now when he tried to think of the Alliance doing those things to him, to the others, that stupid phrase no longer popped up. But he distrusted this still, although the reason wasn't entirely logical. If the Alliance had done all these things, if they'd lied to him, it meant that everything he'd believed, everything he'd done in the last fourteen years was working for the wrong people. This realization disturbed him so greatly that he took little satisfaction in the fact that he could actually think these thoughts now.  
  
She stared at him for a second, then gingerly sat down on the chair. "One of your comrades tried to kill my father."  
  
"He isn't your father," Heero stated confidently, waiting for her reaction.  
  
She started, then nodded wearily. "You're right. He isn't my birth father. But he is my father, in all the ways that count - ways that you probably can't understand."  
  
He ignored her comment. "What are you?"  
  
Instead of responding, she handed him a paper with thousands of numbers on it. "Do you know what this is?"  
  
He glanced at it, hiding his irritation. "It's gene sequences."  
  
"More specific than that."  
  
He looked closer. "Those are the gene sequences of one of the products of Project Titan, specifically the ones that give us strength. I can't tell which one it is, because these sequences are identical in all of us."  
  
She nodded affirmatively. "Do you know where I got these, brother?"  
  
He hesitated, confused by her use of the word 'brother.' She'd never addressed him that way before, and it seemed odd that she should do so now. "You got them off of the Alliance's computer." That caused no confusing conflict, it was a simple statement of fact.  
  
Then she shook her head. "No. Those gene sequences come from my own blood. I call you 'brother' most deliberately, One, creation of Dr. Smith, because you are the closest thing I have to a brother." Holding out the rest of the papers she held, she suddenly seemed smaller and wearier than he had ever seen. "Yesterday you accused me of lying because I was withholding information, keeping back a few of the files about the doctors who created us. Here are those files."  
  
He took the files from her but didn't look at them. "What are you saying?" he asked.  
  
"You know the answer to that question, brother, you just don't want to face it."  
  
"That's impossible." She was right, he did know the answer, but it couldn't be what he was thinking. Why not? he was forced to question himself. They had lied to him about so many other things, why not this?  
  
"Smith was executed for a number of reasons. One was for adding certain gene sequences to us that give us more power than the Alliance wanted. But another reason - the main one - was that during her manipulations, she changed something else in half of the subjects. There were ten of you, not five, did they ever tell you that?"  
  
He didn't respond. He couldn't respond.   
  
"There were ten babies born out of surrogate mothers, but when they saw the final project, they found out what she had done. Half of the babies were female." She stared at Heero with a startling intensity, and he suddenly felt like he was looking at Arthur or Michael. They had that same direct stare that made him think they knew something about him that he himself didn't. "They had no use for females - females don't make good soldiers, aren't as fast or as smart as men, and God knows what other reasoning they used, all of it perfectly useless, and ignoring the fact that a female was the head doctor on the project. They ordered the five female babies disposed of, and had Smith executed." She smiled humorlessly. "But they made a mistake. The disposal of the five girls was left in the hand of a man unconnected with the project, by the name of Kevins. All he was told was that the five were a danger that had to be disposed of. He felt sorry for five helpless infants and gave them to an orphanage He didn't realize they were all completely conscious of their surroundings and in many ways already wiser than him.   
  
"We remained there for less than a week. In that time, Ambassador Krace and his wife decided to adopt a colonist orphan, because they couldn't have children on their own and because they wanted to be sure their commitment to the colony was demonstrated. They adopted me in a huge media event - it was a huge deal back then. I remember it.  
  
"When I say that we remained there for less than a week, I mean all five of us did. I left because I was adopted - the others were stolen from the orphanage during the night and killed once Kevins' action had been noticed. They thought we were too dangerous to leave alive, even if it was only..." she cut herself off. "I was very lucky. If I had been adopted by a normal family, I would have been taken, too, and killed. But the adoption was a highly publicized event, and the ambassador was a highly public figure. If his newly adopted daughter disappeared, there would be a huge investigation, which was the last thing the Alliance wanted. So they covered up the fact that one of the babies had escaped elimination, and continued with your training as if nothing had happened."  
  
She closed her eyes for a fraction of a second. "I always knew I was different. From the moment Father brought me home I knew. I had already gone through over twelve years of schooling by the time I was four, and by the time I was seven, I held several degrees from galaxy-renowned colleges. Then, not long after my seventh birthday, I got hit by a car. The car hit me head-on, and the impact alone should have killed me, not to mention the way I was thrown well over forty meters. I walked away from that accident. That was when I realized how truly different I was.  
  
"After that my studies went in two directions. First, I started studying my own genes, and I discovered that I had been designed. Second, I started studying the Rebels, and the Alliance, and I saw all of the horrible things that the Alliance was doing to the colonists, who were my people. I started secretly aiding the Rebels by computer, because I thought they wouldn't trust me if they saw who and what I was. I did that for three years, until you killed Representative Surd."  
  
"I saw you looking at me after the strike," he said, remembering. "I thought it had to be a trick of the light, that you couldn't possibly see me from down there." If the Alliance was working against the people, then Surd must have been working for them, and when I eliminated him, I was also working against the people. We never did find any evidence that he was working with the Rebels, or stirring up discontent. Heero became more uneasy as he analyzed the strikes he'd made in the past two years, discovering how little evidence there'd been against those people. And now, discovering that there was another one of them... why hadn't they been told? The Alliance was keeping things from him, it seemed. But that meant... He unconsciously shied away from what it meant.  
  
"Oh, I did see you. That night, after I went home, I broke into Alliance's security and accessed the files on Project Titan. That was when I realized how I had been created, by whom, and for what purpose. I sent all the information I had about you to the Rebels, but I needed more information in order to combat you, and there was someone within the Rebels who had once worked on Project Titan. It was the five of you, and the way that you were treated, that caused him to defect to us. Maybe you remember him - Michael Turston."  
  
He remembered, but didn't say anything, lost in his own mind. Michael Turston - officially Mr. Teel - was the only one to ever tell them his real name. Michael had chosen his name because of Mr. Teel, and Arthur had always been his favorite. He'd disappeared without a word, and Mr. Mem had told him that Teel had been removed from the project. It somehow didn't surprise Heero that he had defected to the Rebels, but again... why hadn't the Alliance told them?  
  
"He insisted we meet in person, so we did. He recognized me for what I was, and helped me to hone my abilities in a manner I had never been able to do on my own. That night I got back into the Alliance computer, and downloaded all of the information about you to the Rebel's computer."  
  
"You!" he exclaimed. "The intruder that night, that was you?!"  
  
"Well, you don't think a normal human could get in through Four's system?" she asked with a slight smile. "In some ways, I have you to thank for me joining the Rebels. If not for you forcing me to come out in the open, I never would have met Michael, and they never would have trusted me enough to let me join. I joined the Rebels four years ago." She fell silent, watching him out of half-closed eyes, but he sensed that he had her full attention.   
  
What is she waiting for? he thought resentfully, and reviewed what she had just told him. Suddenly a conclusion leaped into his mind, so obvious he couldn't believe he'd missed it before. "You!" he shouted accusingly. "You're the Phoenix."  
  
She smiled. "The Phoenix rose from the ashes of it's dead parent, and I emphasize the word dead. In a way, the Alliance is my parent. I intend to rise from its ashes, or at least, to rise above the ashes they intended me to be, the ones my sister now are. Don't look so surprised. It would have to be someone like me to keep up with you, someone who knows exactly what you are capable of, and who understands you.  
  
"What I said about you being emotionally trained is the truth. I know that your emotional state is not natural, because I was created by the same scientists who made you, and I have a full range of human emotions."  
  
"How... how do I know... The Alliance must have trained us emotionally to make us better soldiers," he said without conviction. "We live to serve the Alliance," the words tasted sour in his mouth.  
  
She shook her head regretfully. "They did that to you to tie you to the Alliance. I have emotions, and they haven't affected my efficiency, as the Phoenix."  
  
He knew that they'd used the training to tie them to the Alliance, but he needed more proof than that. "Not good enough."  
  
She sighed. "One, have you ever done undercover work as an Earthling?"  
  
Heero resisted the urge to tell her that his name was Heero and concentrated on the question. "Yes."  
  
"And to portray an Earthling, you have to wear makeup, hair dyes, contact lenses?"  
  
"Yes." What did this have to do with anything?  
  
"And there was a danger that sometime the makeup might rub off, and you would be exposed as a colonist?"  
  
"The danger was very slight - we use good makeup - but yes, it was present."  
  
"What if there was a way to eliminate that danger altogether, and that method was open to you. Would that improve your efficiency, would that allow you to better serve the Alliance?"  
  
"Yes."   
  
She managed to stand up, grimacing in pain as she did so. "I told you that Dr. Smith was executed for two reasons. One was that she made half of the babies female. The other was that she added certain gene sequences that gave us abilities the Alliance didn't want us to have. I didn't find out about this until I joined the Rebels, until Michael told me, because even though I had noticed those genes, I didn't recognize them. There was a good reason for that." She stopped speaking, and as he watched, her skin slowly darkened from it's normal white color to a light pink, then a darker peach, then a deep tan. Her hair also darkened, sliding through various levels of yellow, red, and brown, finally settling on a dark rich brown. Pure white albino eyes stared out of a body that was definitely from Earth.  
  
"What...?!"  
  
"The reason I couldn't identify those genes was that they weren't human. They were originally from a chameleon, adapted for human use. I can't change as many colors as a chameleon, but I can be any shade that Earthlings are, and change my hair, too. All it takes for me is a pair of contact lenses to conceal the color of my eyes, and I could fit in on Earth. You have the ability, too. The Alliance knows it, and never told you because then you could leave at any time, run to Earth where there are billions of people, and just disappear." She regarded him soberly, slowly turning white again. "Try it. Isolate your hand, the way they taught you to for controlling pain, and concentrate. It's something like a muscle flex, only it's only on the top layer of the epidermis. Try it."  
  
Turning his back on her, he stared at his own hand, trying to concentrate and do what she'd said. At first there was nothing, then he felt a slight tingling in his hand, and saw the skin darken from white to black in a matter of seconds.   
  
"It takes time to learn how to control it," she said softly. "But it is a very useful tool."  
  
Heero couldn't speak, he couldn't think, he could barely breathe. She'd done it. She'd convinced him. Everything he'd been told was a lie, and he'd been working against the people, just hurting people, his entire life. With a mindless cry of frustration and rage, he slammed his now-black fist into the wall, punching a hole in it. It hurt, but his hand emerged unscathed.   
  
"They lied to you about their motives in your training, didn't teach you to be everything you could be to help the Alliance. Isn't it possible that they're also lying to you about the true intentions of the Alliance?" She obviously didn't realize that he'd already been convinced.  
  
He nodded angrily. Everything he'd ever been taught was a lie. He raised a fist to punch the wall again, trying to get rid of some of his anger, his frustration, his pain... but she caught his arm. "Come on."  
  
"Where are you taking me?" he asked listlessly.  
  
"I'm letting you go. I don't want you to just take my word for it - I want you to find out the truth about the Alliance for yourself."  
  
He didn't tell her that he already knew the truth. This would be an opportunity to make sure he was right.  
  
She took him out of the room and down a series of nearly-empty corridors to a waiting car with darkened windows. "I'm sorry, but we're going to have to take you away from here before I can let you go. There are far too many people who could be hurt if this base was discovered by the Alliance."  
  
Heero obediently climbed into the car and sat down as it slowly accelerated. Over the next half-hour the car made dozens of turns, obviously designed to leave him with no idea where he was or how far he'd traveled. Heero could have kept check in his mind, but he didn't. If they were letting him go, that required some sort of response on his part, so he didn't try to find their hideout. Finally the car stopped. "Here," she said, handing him a card. "Once you find out the truth about the Alliance, call this number and one of us will pick you up. We'll take you wherever you want to go, whether that is back to our base or to a shuttle that can take you to Earth."  
  
Heero nodded and pocketed the card. He climbed out of the car, took a few seconds to orient himself, and then started off.  
  
-----------  
  
As Rina watched One disappear into the crowd, the divider between the driver and passenger cabin slid down, and her driver turned back to look at her. "You're taking a very big risk with this, Phoenix," he said, shaking his head. "I know you think you've convinced him, but if you're wrong..."  
  
"I know that, Mike, but these are desperate times. Desperate times call for desperate measures. You know what is coming - we must bring him to our side, or at the very least, deny the Alliance his loyalty."  
  
Mike nodded and started driving back to base.   
  
"Has word gotten out that we held him for a couple weeks, that he hasn't been out on his own?" Rina asked.  
  
"Yes, sir, just like you ordered."  
  
"Then word will have gotten back to the Alliance leaders by now, to his superiors," she said slowly, although this was a statement of fact. "They'll assume that he has been turned, of course. The Alliance always was rather quick to kill off it's own people."  
  
"You think they'll try to kill him?"  
  
"Oh, that's a certainty. The main question is whether he'll let them. And that depends on what he learns before he goes to meet them, and on what I've already said. I've tried to take away his entire life. If I didn't do this right, he will let them kill him, and it will have been my fault."  
  
"No more yours than the Alliances," he told her, trying to be comforting. "Because of what they did to him..."  
  
"No, I take responsibility for it. I made a choice, in order to save lives, and if that choice costs one more innocent his life, then I will have to accept that." It occurred to her how odd it was to be thinking of one of those boys as an innocent, after all the people they'd killed personally and caused to have been killed. But for her, it was impossible to think of them as anything but victims of the Alliance.  
  
Now all she had to do was wait and see if one of the Alliance's victims would also be a victim of the Phoenix.  
  
---------  
  
Heero's mind was at once a blur and incredibly clear as he walked into one of the Alliance's safe houses. He'd left word earlier that he would meet his superiors there, and had spent the intervening time doing some research of his own. He'd verified, through files that had been censored from the libraries and records rooms that the files the Phoenix had given him about the statistics on crime in the colonies before the Alliance arrived were accurate. He also walked the streets for some time, and talked to a few kids about what their parents thought about the Alliance. In all cases except one the children repeated derogatory comments their parents had made about the Alliance, and the last one, a little girl, just burst into tears and ran off. The people really do hate us. The only thing left to do was verify the truth from Mem himself, and Heero knew how.  
  
When he entered the safe house, Mr. Mem was there, along with two men that Heero had never seen before, but he could tell from their posture that they were soldiers, fighting men, not scientists. He felt the tension in the air, and prepared himself for action if it was necessary. The truth, all I want is the truth.  
  
"One, we were getting concerned about you," Mem said in that super-sweet tone of his, which immediately increased Heero's sense of danger. Mem always sounded like this right before he struck. "Disappearing like that for so many days."  
  
"I was captured by the Rebels. I know the identity of the Phoenix." And something about her that none of us ever suspected.  
  
"You do? That's astonishing. How did you find out and then escape?" Heero noticed that Mem, who was usually given to making broad gestures with both of his hands, kept his right hand under the desk. He's hiding something, a recorder, or a weapon...  
  
"They let me go."  
  
"They what?"  
  
"They let me go without a fight. They tried to turn me against the Alliance."  
  
"Did it work?" Mem asked, laughing playfully, but Heero heard that there was an actual question beneath this veneer of confidence.  
  
"I'm here, aren't I?" Not quite a lie, that.  
  
Mem hid his relief well, and said, "So, who is he? Who is the Phoenix?"  
  
"Just one question before I tell you."  
  
"What is that?" Mem remained outwardly friendly, but Heero saw him tense slightly in anticipation.   
  
Heero held up his right hand and made it turn dark. "Why didn't you tell me I could do this?"  
  
Without any warning Mem drew a blaster and fired several shots at Heero.  
  
Heero had seen the muscles in his arm tense a moment before the shots came, and was already diving out of the way when the shots hit the wall behind him. The dive took him close to one of the two men, who reached out to grab his arm. Heero let him, then used that leverage to throw the man across the room. He upended the desk Mem was sitting behind, knocking Mem over and momentarily ending the barrage of energy bolts. The other man ran at him, but Heero threw a chair at him, and when the man ducked, ran out through the door. He ran one block down the street and then turned a corner. I've got to lose them before they can summon backup.  
  
He slipped into a store and grabbed a bright orange jacket off the rack. Throwing it on, he casually walked back outside, disabling the store's theft alarms with a kick to the electronic grid that ran it. Do the unexpected. His training took over. He'd already changed his appearance, and no one would suspect that he would grab the most flamboyant outfit in the store, one guaranteed to draw attention. For that very reason it might cause them to overlook him. He started off down the street at a moderately paced walk, not running, but not dragging his feet, either. He heard shouts, but they were far away, well beyond the range of a normal human's ears, so he didn't stop. He didn't turn his head, either, which would have been an instant giveaway.   
  
Heero almost thought he had gotten away by the time he entered a crowded market. Then he noticed a few people standing around in strategic exits to the large square, saw the bulges under their shirts that indicated they were carrying blasters or guns. How did they find me? he thought, then one of them glanced upward, towards the sky, and Heero's acute vision picked up a couple of shuttles floating far overhead, and he knew what was about to happen. The Alliance ran random sweeps every couple of weeks where they closed off a large region of public space and checked the ID of everyone in that region. If the ID didn't match what was on file for the person's fingerprints, or if the Alliance wanted them for some reason, the person would be taken away. These people weren't looking for him, but if he got caught in the sweep, it was only a matter of time until they figured out who he was, especially since he wasn't carrying an ID. He rapidly headed for one of the exits. He had almost reached it when a light flashed down on the square and an energy field sprouted up in front of him, blocking off the exits.   
  
There were screams all around as people realized what had happened, and the undercover agents pulled out old projectile-guns and started controlling the crowd. They made everyone line up against the wall, hands pressed against it, heads down. When everyone was under control, they lowered the energy shields and let more agents in. These agents carried devices to check the validity of ID's and also a good deal of knowledge of the Alliance's enemies. They worked in pairs, one armed agent along with one identifier, in case there were Rebels among those caught. As they started to work through the crowd, he entertained a moment of hope that they'd just send him along, because he looked so young - they did that sometimes. In the meantime he started to come up with a plan in case they didn't. There was no doubt in his mind that at this point to be caught by the Alliance was to be killed, and probably in the most painful way possible, if they caught him alive. There was a faint throb of pain in his mind as he contemplated the Alliance as his enemy, but no repetition of the phrase, and the pain was much less than before.  
  
When they reached him, the identifier asked for his ID. Damn it. "I forgot mine at home," he said in a high-pitched voice.   
  
The identifier looked at the agent, who shook his head. "He's old enough now to know better. A few hours in Interrogation will teach him not to forget it again." He grabbed Heero's arm and pulled him away from the wall. "Come on, kid. This won't..." his sentence was cut off when Heero slammed his flattened hand into the man's throat, instantly crushing his windpipe. As he fell to his knees, dying, Heero pulled the gun out of his hand. He quickly lined up a shot and took out one of the armed agents. Ten left. He killed six of them before they realized that they were under attack, and only two of them ever got shots off that were even directed at him. The identifiers crouched on the ground with the rest of the terrified crowd - there was no danger from them. The entire process had taken less than thirty seconds.  
  
Out of the corner of his eye Heero saw several of the members of the crowd run away from the wall and towards the exit. Rebels, most likely. Heero automatically raised the gun and aimed at one of them, but as the man turned to look behind him, a panicked expression on his face, Heero hesitated. A few days or even a few hours ago he wouldn't have hesitated to pull the trigger - these men were enemies of the Alliance. But so am I, now. He let them run away.   
  
Walking over to the body of one of the agents he'd killed, Heero retrieved a fresh gun with an unused cartridge. Discarding the other one on the ground, he looked around at the crowd. This was no good. Alliance soldiers would be coming here in just a few minutes. He needed a rush of people to disappear in. "Everyone out of here!" he shouted. A bunch of people got to their feet, looking terrified. "I said move it!" he shouted louder. "The Alliance is coming!" He fired a shot into the air. That got a reaction. Moving almost as one being, the people got to their feet, gathered up what belongings they could, and ran for the exits. Heero picked one man at random and ran with him back out into the streets.  
  
  
  
  
  



	9. Part 8

An hour later, when he was sure that no one was watching him, Heero found a phone. The card the Phoenix had given him was still in his pocket. He reached for it and fingered it for a second, not pulling it out of his pocket. He wasn't sure he wanted anything to do with the Rebels, and he didn't need their help - he could get off-planet on his own. But he wanted answers, and there was only one person he knew of who could give him those answers. He pulled the card out of his pocket and quickly dialed the number written on it.  
  
He heard someone pick up on the other end of the line, but there was no talking. Assuming that someone was indeed listening, he growled, "I want to speak to the Phoenix. Now."  
  
There was a startled squeak on the other end, then a silence. After almost a minute, a female voice said, "Wait where you are. We'll be by in three minutes."  
  
Heero hung up and waited. In three minutes, a car with dark windows pulled up to the curb in front of him. Someone opened the door, and he saw that it was the Phoenix, wearing a dark expression. He climbed in, and she commented, "I don't suppose it would be asking too much for you not to use that name over public lines?" She sighed.  
  
"They tried to kill me."   
  
She didn't respond, just stared at him, and he realized something. The realization was followed by a surge of anger that she'd known all this time, that he had underestimated her, even knowing what - and who - she was.  
  
"You knew they would." It was a statement of fact, not a question.  
  
"The Alliance has a long history of killing first, asking questions later. There was no reason that they would change that pattern now, especially with someone as deadly as you."  
  
It was a truthful answer. Now he had another question. "Why did you do this to me? For me?"  
  
"Which answer do you want, the pragmatic one or the humanitarian one?"  
  
"I want the entire answer."  
  
"Fair enough. We'll start with the humanitarian one. You are human, despite what you have been told. No human being deserves to be treated the way you were. Also, I have some idea what it's like to be different than everyone, and I wanted to talk with someone who felt the same way." She sighed. "All right, now the pragmatic reason. I've been basically doing all of the organizational work for the Rebels for two years now, in addition to participating in several strikes. All of that is on top of going to school and making appearances as my other self. It's beginning to wear on me. That, on top of trying to keep up with the five of you..." she fell silent for a moment. "I can't keep this up forever. It's taking all I've got right now just to keep the Rebels alive. We've always been short on food and supplies, but even more so now, since you five entered the field. If I didn't try something, I estimated that the Rebels would last for no more than three or four more years. I analyzed my choices, and decided you were the biggest threat. I wanted to draw you out in the open during your search for the Phoenix, so I inserted a suggestion in the Alliance computer that you be put on the case."  
  
"You what?!"   
  
"I was the one who got you put on the case, looking for me. It was the only way I could think of to get you close enough to me that I could catch you. That's why I did it."  
  
"What do you want from me now?"  
  
She opened her mouth to answer, then closed it. Finally she said, "If it were just me, I would say nothing. After what you've been through, I should want nothing more for you than for you to do whatever you want. In some ways, that's all I do want for you. But that's just Rina talking, and I'm not just Rina. I'm also the Phoenix, and as the Phoenix, I want your help. The Rebels need us, and I'm not enough for them. So I have to ask for you help."  
  
"And if I say no?" he asked, mentally reviewing everything he'd thought, the pain and frustration when he realized that something in his mind did not belong to him, and the anger that was now turned almost fully on the Alliance. Almost.  
  
"Then I - as the Phoenix - will be disappointed, but grateful that at least I won't be fighting you anymore. The Rebels don't have many resources, but I can get you enough money to get you anywhere in the galaxy you want to go, so that you can do whatever you want, and Rina, at least, will be happy."  
  
Heero stared at the darkened window for several minutes, then came to a decision. "I think I can make both parts of you happy. I'll stay and help you, because that is what I want for myself. I'll only do it on one condition, though. That the first mission you give me is to help the others." Now that he knew the truth, he had to let the others know it, too.   
  
She smiled a little. "You mean Two, Three, Four, and Five?"  
  
"I mean Herc, Michael, Arthur, and Kan," he corrected her. The Alliance had given them those numbers, and he didn't want to think about that right now.  
  
"I heard something about names, but I could never find any reference to it."  
  
"They only used our operational numbers. We were the only ones who used the names."  
  
"That doesn't mean they aren't your names."  
  
"So I can do it?"  
  
"If you didn't ask me, that was going to be my next job anyway."  
  
Heero's expression didn't change, but he suddenly felt lighter. "Thank you, Phoenix."  
  
"Please don't call me that. Phoenix is just a title. My name is Rina."  
  
"And mine is Heero."  
  
  
----------  
  
  
When they got back to her base, Heero wanted to start working on his new mission right away, but she said that she had something to show him first. To his surprise, the base she had kept him in was little more than the few hallways he had already seen, not a large hidden military establishment. It was just one small building at the edge of the colony, pressed up against the dome that made it possible for humans to live on the hostile planet. Terraforming that was taking place right now might make it possible to walk on the surface without protection some day, but that day was decades in the future, if not centuries. Then she took him to a lift, and it dropped several stories into the ground. When the doors opened, he was standing in another colony, complete with buildings, artificial sunlight, and trees. He stared. "What is this place?"  
  
"It's called Refuge," she said. He glanced at her, and saw that while his attention had been occupied, she had changed her skin tone and put on contacts, so that she looked like a person from Earth. "It's our biggest secret. The only reason we've been able to keep it a secret so long is that few people who ever see Refuge leave it. It started out as just a few underground tunnels the Rebels used to hide in, but then we started getting refugees from small colonies that the Alliance had destroyed. When Earthlings think of the colonies, they think of the huge domed cities like Alpha. Most of them don't even know that there are literally hundreds of smaller domes where people farm and produce food and air for the major colonies to survive on. Every now and then the Alliance will eliminate one of the colonies if they think too much food is being produced, to keep prices high. So far we can't stop them, but we can evacuate the citizens. Long before we were born, the Rebels started enlarging the tunnels, building by building, farther and farther out into the Centari dirt. Refuge now extends several miles out under the Centari surface, and houses tens of thousands of people, nearly one-fifth the population of Alpha's District One. It's completely independent from Alpha - we produce all the air, food, and water we need to survive. If for some reason the dome on Alpha was breached, we could survive for years down here, if not indefinitely."  
  
He stared around him with renewed respect. "How could you keep this a secret?"  
  
"Like I said, few people who see this place and know where it is leave. The metals and minerals in the soil hide most of our energy traces. In addition to that, a good deal of our funds go to bribing various minor Alliance officials to look the other way, although none of them know the true extent of what their greed is concealing. Refuge is the reason that the Rebels have so few resources - most of what we have goes into maintaining this place, so there's not much left over for fighting."  
  
"But isn't your goal to win independence for the colony? To destroy the Alliance's influence here? Aren't you wasting resources here?"  
  
"Our goal is to protect the people, and there are over thirty thousand here, and the number is growing daily, with all of the strikes the Alliance is making now-a-days. Heero, I brought you down here because I want you to understand something. The people always come first, before defeating the Alliance, before killing our enemies, even before preserving our own lives. There are now thirty thousand innocents here, less than three percent of them have anything to do with the Rebels, people whose lives depend on you keeping the secret."  
  
Heero found himself suspicious of her motives. "Then why are you telling me this? Why are you showing me this?"  
  
She laughed in a low voice. "That's a good question. There are a number of my advisors who argued very strongly against me bringing you here."  
  
"Then why did you?"  
  
"Because I want you to understand. You wouldn't have learned this at the Alliance, and it's something very important to us. The Alliance believes that the people exist on the sufferance of the government, and that it's not wrong to sacrifice people for that government."  
  
Heero nodded. "I know that. Mem... Yirtz told us it every time we eliminated a civilian, that it was for the good of the Alliance, to protect it so it could protect the people."  
  
"Well, that's partially right. Heero, the government exists for the people. It exists to protect them, and because of them. But you can't go eliminating the same people you're trying to protect. If you eliminate one person, then why not ten, or a hundred, or a thousand? If you look at it the Alliance's way, there's no number of people too large to sacrifice, and if you continue on that path, sooner or later there's going to be no one left. Then what purpose does the government serve? The government has to protect the people, all the people, or it has no reason to exist. Do you understand?"  
  
Heero thought she was exaggerating the point. "I don't understand exactly what you're saying, not yet." Heero hesitated, then added, "But I'll think about it. I'll try to understand." Rina looked worried. "And I won't betray you to the Alliance."  
  
"It's not me I'm worried about," she said softly, looking out across the crowded street. After a few seconds, she collected herself. "Come on, there's one more person I want you to meet." She took him back up to the surface, and they drove to another hidden base, this one more what Heero had expected. It was in a bad section of town, dirty, cramped, and everyone on the base was armed. Heero found himself analyzing it's defenses, looking for weaknesses. There weren't many, which had to be Rina's doing, but it was clear that the thought of an Alliance raid was in most of the men's minds. Then he saw a group of young women standing together, practicing putting together weapons, and a minute later, an older woman standing among several of the men, talking to them.  
  
"There are women Rebels?" As the words came out of his mouth, he realized how big a mistake that had been, saying something like that to *her*.  
  
Rina shot him an amused glance. "The Alliance made a big mistake when they tried to get rid of me. They thought I'd be useless as a soldier because I'm female. They were wrong about me, and they were wrong about females in general. I'll introduce you to some of them, sometime. I think even your old commanders would be impressed with their *efficiency*."  
  
Your old commanders. The words stuck in his mind, and he suddenly realized the extent of all he'd done. He'd turned his back completely on the Alliance, and effectively pledged his allegiance to the Rebels. His comrades would try to kill him on sight, as would any loyal Alliance soldier. He was now cut off from everything that he'd known for his entire life. Is it worth the price? he wondered, just for an instant. Then he again remembered repeating that damned phrase, over and over and over again, and his resolve stiffened. If nothing else, she had given him the truth, and the ability to decide his own future. He knew that she had probably done her best to convince him to join her, but the final decision had been his. That's more than my creators ever gave me.  
  
Rina turned and opened a door. She stuck her head inside, and a second later a man came out. Heero was struck by the realization that he knew him. "Mr. Teel," he said, recognizing the man despite the passage of nearly ten years since he last saw him.  
  
"One," the man acknowledged him stiffly with a nod. "You've grown."  
  
"My name is Heero," he said firmly, wanting to be rid of that designation forever. He never realized how much he hated it until he heard people, real people, calling him his real name.  
  
"Heero, then. My name is Michael Turston, not Mr. Teel."  
  
Heero nodded. "You haven't changed much." It was true. Michael Turston had been a young man when he first joined the project, only twenty-one, and was only twenty-four when he left it. He had aged slightly in the intervening ten years, but his appearance was unmistakable.   
  
"I guess I'll take that as a compliment. How is Four?"  
  
"Arthur," Heero stressed the name. "Was fine last time I saw him. He overcame his weakness to become a model soldier, although he's not as efficient as the rest of us. He does have his strengths, though." Heero delivered the report the same way he would have reported to his supervisors, eyes straight forward, back stiff. "Do you want me to elaborate?"  
  
Michael Turston grimaced. "No, that's all right." It suddenly occurred to Heero that maybe that hadn't been the response they were looking for.  
  
"Mike taught me how to change my skin tones," Rina said with another smile at Mike. Heero also smiled grimly as something occurred to him. "He'll teach you how to do it too."  
  
"I'd like to get started on my mission now," Heero told her.  
  
"His mission?" Mike asked, raising his eyebrows.   
  
"I'm going to trap my colleagues so that Rina can do for them what she did for me," Heero informed him.   
  
"Do you need anything?"  
  
"You still have access to the Alliance's computer, don't you?"  
  
Rina hesitated, then nodded. "I created a back door the last time you kicked me out. I can get in and out any time."  
  
"I'm going to need to get in and see what orders they've been given in my absence. After that I just need a few hours by myself to think."  
  
"Come on. I'll get you into the system. Then I've got business to attend to." She lead him to a nearby room with an old computer in it.  
  
"This is what you've been using?!"  
  
"I've got better equipment in my house, but, like I said, we don't have many resources. We manage." He had to admire her efficiency, both in getting into the system and in doing it with the ancient system she was using.   
  
"That's a roundabout route," he observed.  
  
"Well Four... I mean Arthur, did a very good job with the security. If I hadn't left this back door, I wouldn't be able to get in at all. Even so, I can't take a direct route into the system. That is a straight giveaway, and they'll detect you every time. But I can get into one of the less well-guarded accesses with my program, and then work my way back from there. It's not fun, or easy, but it's doable. Here you go." She finished her typing and gave him the seat. He found himself staring at a general query in the main bank of the system.   
  
"How did you do that?"  
  
"The computer thinks you're Colonel Jerard U. Weston."  
  
"How? I thought Arthur fixed it so that you couldn't make fake ID's anymore."  
  
"He did. Colonel Weston is a real person."  
  
"But how..."  
  
"Maybe it would be more accurate to say that Colonel Weston was a real person. He was killed in combat eight years ago. When I got back in after you destroyed the second fake ID I made, I changed his files. The computer thinks he's still on active duty somewhere in the Kappa colony, instead of buried in a cemetery back on Earth."  
  
"Very clever," he admitted. As she turned to leave he said, "Rina?"  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"I've seen what you do with your people."  
  
She frowned. "What do you mean?"  
  
"You use friendship the way the Alliance uses threats and emotional training. Every time you smile at them and offer them camaraderie, it ties them closer to you. It's a very good way to keep people's loyalty."  
  
For a long minute she didn't answer him. Finally she said in a strained voice, "That's not the only reason I offer them friendship. We were born alone, you and I both remember it more than most people, and we will die alone. It's what we do, the people we're with in the middle that has any meaning."  
  
  
------------  
  
  
As Rina got ready to go to bed that evening, safe in her own home, she found herself thinking of Heero's words. There was more truth to them then she liked to admit. It was true that she was aware of the ties that friendship made with people, and that sometimes she did use the charm she had learned to deal with her father's friends in order to ingratiate herself with new recruits, but there was more to it than that. It wasn't just a tool, the way Heero had suggested. The difference was that she also valued the friendships just for themselves, valued being able to talk to people, not as a commander to subordinates, but just as equals. It's not the way Heero said. It isn't.  
  
She wondered whether it really had been a big mistake to capture Heero and convert him. What if she had failed, and Alliance troops were storming through Refuge as she lay there? Rina suppressed the desire to jump out of bed and rush to the base right away. She forced herself to lay still. She didn't think she'd failed. Heero was basically honest beneath everything the Alliance had taught him. Unless he was specifically given a mission where it was in the parameters to lie to her, he wouldn't. That's more than you can say about me. He had exhibited genuine desire to help free his companions. It would be a long time, if ever, before he had fully human emotions, but he showed a desire to learn real values, and that was a start. And there was something more that was fueling him, something they'd done to his mind that had been a major factor in converting him, maybe more than anything she did. She wondered what it was, and then pushed it from her mind. Whatever the Alliance had done to him, he was free of them now. But in a way that wasn't true, because the emotional training was still holding for him. He couldn't ever be happy until it was broken, and she promised herself that she'd work on it. It was the least she could do after he joined them.  
  
I was right to take the risk, she thought. He will be a powerful ally. I knew the Rebels wouldn't survive without his help, and the others. Now, if I can only get them all working together, and get the rest of the Rebels to trust them before it's too late...  
  
  
------------  
  
  
"I'm going after Arthur," Heero said.  
  
"I'm going with you," Rina told him.  
  
"I know. I need your help anyway."  
  
Rina was surprised that he had managed to anticipate her coming along, and pleased. "What are you going to do?"  
  
"I left a message on Arthur's terminal, telling him to meet me in a specific location, and to come alone."  
  
"You what?!" Rina didn't bother to hide her alarm and dismay. She didn't think he was stupid, but this was causing her to have questions.  
  
"Don't worry. He will come alone. I told him I would be unarmed. He's very honest about things like that. He'll either come alone or he won't come at all. And he will come alone."  
  
"How do you know that?"  
  
"I lived with him for fourteen years. I know how he acts."  
  
Rina wasn't able to argue with that comment, so she focused on another of her arguments. "They'll know that I have a way of getting into the system."  
  
"Once Arthur joins us, it won't matter. He's the only one who could build a defense to keep you out of the system, anyway." Heero's face was, as always, unreadable, and Rina saw why he so disturbed her fellow Rebels. He did seem more like a machine than a man at times. But right now, she sensed he was holding something back.   
  
"Why did you pick him? Were the others confined to base?"  
  
He hesitated, then answered. "No. Kan is out on a fact-finding mission, trying to discover what happened to me."  
  
"Then why didn't you target him?"  
  
"I thought that Arthur would be a better target."  
  
"Why?!" she demanded.  
  
"Arthur is different than the rest of us."  
  
The many possible meanings of that statement stopped her in her tracks. "What do you mean?"   
  
"I think that you would say he is more human than us. I think... I believe that the emotional training all of us underwent did not take hold on him properly, so that he has some normal human emotions. He doesn't like to kill, even in service of the Alliance."  
  
"He doesn't?!" Rina repeated, astonished. Her mind flew back over what she knew about Four... Arthur.  
  
"I'm surprised you didn't know that. It must have been in his files."  
  
Rina concentrated on what she knew about Arthur. She did remember something about him being reported as weak. Once she had heard that, she hadn't paid as much attention to him as the others, assuming he wouldn't be as much of a threat. Stupid! She had assumed that when they said weaker they meant physically or mentally stunted, not just that he had emotions and wasn't the perfect killing machine they wanted. She'd forgotten that the analysis had been performed by Alliance doctors, who had very different values than she did.  
  
"He doesn't like to kill, but he has other skills," Heero continued. "I think... I think it would be best to get him away from Mem as soon as possible. Mem has a cruel streak in him, and Arthur has always been a target. He's been punished more than the rest of us combined."  
  
"Punished?" Rina had heard about this, but hadn't been able to find out what, exactly, it was.  
  
"Put into a chamber designed to torture information out of prisoners. We were originally put into it to train ourselves not to succumb to torture, but now Mem uses it to punish Arthur when he doesn't perform at peak efficiency. I'll give you the design specifications later."  
  
Rina, knowing how his mind worked, didn't have to ask why he would give her that information. He obviously expected her to use the information to build a chamber of her own. He couldn't know that she would never use such a thing, even on a person like Mem who would torture people for fun. But the Rebels could use the machine to train their own people to resist it.   
  
She repressed a shiver at the cold-blooded boy she'd brought into her circle, and forced her attention on the task at hand. "All right, so you're targeting him. Are you sure he'll come alone?"  
  
He nodded. "He knows I won't have lied to him when I said that I would be unarmed. But I won't be alone. Do you still have that dart gun?"  
  
Rina nodded, seeing where this was going.   
  
"How is your leg?"  
  
"Better. Not one hundred percent, but still better than human. The muscles are still mending, but the bone is solid. As long as I don't put too much stress on it, it should hold. Why?" Because of the way she was designed, like the boys, Rina possessed incredible strength, and she healed almost ten times faster than normal humans, meaning that an injury that would have put a normal human out of commission for weeks was healed in a matter of days or hours for her. Also, her skin healed fastest, so that her injuries rarely showed. It was a good thing, too. It would have been hard to explain a series of scrapes all up and down her left side when she fell off that building, or almost got run over by that car...  
  
"You may need to do some acrobatics to get him."  
  
"Just tell me what I need to do. Let's get this over with as quickly as we can."  
  
He glanced at the door to her office. "Don't they need you for something..."  
  
"I took care of most of the business yesterday. Right now you guys are a top priority. The Rebels survived without me for fifty years, they can survive a few days' neglect."  
  
  
--------------  
  
  
A light flashed in the handheld unit Heero held, and he nodded to Rina. She made sure the safety on the dart gun was on, and that it was tucked into her belt, then jumped straight up ten feet. The hotel room where Heero had chosen to have this meeting was mostly empty space, but there was a narrow hallway, just two and a half feet across, right in front of the doorway. Now she pressed her feet against one wall and her back against the other, and sat there with the dart gun in her lap, waiting. She didn't have long to wait. The sensor unit that had alerted them to Arthur's approach had been stationed just down the hall. In less than a minute the door cracked open. The end of a gun was poked through, followed by the rest of the gun, a hand, arm, and finally an entire body.   
  
A fourteen-year-old boy walked through the entranceway with all the stealth of a trained warrior, looking around cautiously as he did so. Luckily he didn't glance upwards, and when he was convinced that Heero was alone, he advanced into the room, keeping his gun pointed directly at Heero's chest. "You said you'd be unarmed," he said in a voice that trembled. It was both a question and a challenge.   
  
"I am." Heero held his hands up, then placed them on top of his head. "You can search me if you want." Rina waited. Heero had told her he wanted to have a short conversation with Arthur.   
  
"No, I believe you," the boy said, not relaxing in the slightest. "Why'd you do it, Heero?" he asked in a plaintive voice that sounded almost like a true child's. "Why did you betray the Alliance?"  
  
"I didn't betray the Alliance. The Alliance betrayed us."  
  
"You're lying."  
  
"No, the Alliance has been lying to us all our lives. What did they tell you?"  
  
"They told me you attacked Mr. Mem and killed several Alliance agents."  
  
"That was only after they tried to kill me."  
  
"They what?" the boy asked in a harsh whisper.  
  
"I know the identity of the Phoenix. I found out the truth when I was captured, but I wasn't sure until I was released. I contacted Mem, and when I told him that I knew who the Phoenix was... I asked one question instead of obeying instantly, and they tried to kill me." He lowered his hands a little. "Arthur..."  
  
"Don't call me that," the boy said sharply, then said in a loud monotone, "I'm on a mission, and my designation is Four. Put your hands on your head, One. I'm bringing you back to base."  
  
For a moment Heero actually looked regretful. "I'm sorry, Arthur."  
  
"Put your hands on your head, One. I won't give you another chance. I may be weak, but that won't stop me from killing you now. Put your hands on your head."  
  
Heero's eyes flicked to Rina, and she fired three quick shots into Arthur's back. He managed to turn his head slightly to look at her, then looked back at Heero. "You traitor," he murmured as he collapsed.  
  
Rina dropped down from her perch, her left leg aching slightly because of the exertion. "He lasted a few seconds longer than you did," she murmured. "He could have gotten off a shot."  
  
"I knew he wouldn't," Heero said, staring at his fallen comrade. "Arthur can kill, has killed, but only if he's ordered to, and only if it serves a purpose. He could have killed me here, but you still would have caught him, so it didn't serve a purpose in the immediate sense. I always thought it made him weak, and I disliked him for it."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"I once saw some of our early tests, motor skill, reaction time, that sort of thing," he said. "Arthur had the highest of all of us. Not by much, but a little better scores. They stayed that way until people noticed he didn't want to kill, and started telling him he was weak. Then the scores started to drop, a little at a time, until he was the worst of us five. I disliked him because he was once stronger than us, and he let his weakness get in the way of his efficiency." He transferred his gaze from Arthur to Rina, still expressionless. "But from what you tell me, I think his weakness may be more of an asset among the Rebels."  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Well, Heero's not quite as unfeeling/uncaring as he pretends to be, but Arthur is not in for a happy time. I'll try to get the next section out this week.  
Marika 


	10. Part 9

When Arthur woke up, he was in an all-white room, lying on a low mattress. There were no other furnishings, nothing that he could use. He sat up and turned his back to the camera he saw mounted in a corner, shielded behind a thick layer of glass where he couldn't tamper with it. I am weak, he thought, closing his eyes so they couldn't see them while he regained control of himself. When I received the note, I should have told the others, and brought them all with me when I found Heero. We would have had him, instead of him capturing me. He knew that I wouldn't bring the others, though. He knows that I am weak.  
  
Arthur forced himself not to look up as the door slid quietly open and Heero walked in, carrying a platter with food on it. "I brought you something to eat. If you acted the way you normally do when something goes wrong, or before a mission, you haven't eaten in a long time. Days at least, maybe longer."  
  
"Get away from me," Arthur said in a low voice, and was ashamed of how it trembled.   
  
"I told you the truth back in the hotel," Heero told him. "Mem did attack me, he did try to kill me before anything else happened. They betrayed me, not the other way around. They betrayed all of us."  
  
"One, stay away from me," Arthur said again, this time managing to keep his voice level.  
  
Heero ignored him and took another step forward. "Arthur, I'm telling you the truth. The Alliance has been lying to us..."  
  
"One, I swear to God, the Alliance, and everything else sacred that if you come one step nearer, I will kill you," Arthur said in a low voice. Out of the corner of his eye he saw something amazing, something he had never seen before in all the years he had known Heero. Heero looked hurt, for a moment, before he covered it up. Heero, hurt by something I said? Impossible.  
  
"I'll be back later," Heero said, and set down the platter. He walked straight out the door. Arthur stared at the platter for a moment, then picked it up and threw it as hard as he could at the wall. The durable plastic bent, and the plates and utensils were scattered all over the room, along with whatever food Heero had brought. It didn't matter. Arthur couldn't have eaten it anyway, it was probably drugged with whatever they used to warp Heero's mind, to turn him against the Alliance.  
  
Heero was the best of us, so much stronger than me. What could they have possibly done to him to make him betray the Alliance? Arthur realized that if they had been able to do that to Heero, they most certainly could do it to him. That's what's ahead of me - they'll try to make me betray the Alliance, the way Heero betrayed us. Then they'll send me out to capture one of the others. How could I have been so stupid as to trust Heero, especially after they told us what he'd done, what had happened to him?! I'm so weak!  
  
Arthur remembered the excitement he'd felt when he received Heero's message. I believed it, I thought that he couldn't possibly have turned against us. I thought that I could trust my stupid hunch about his loyalty to the five of us being stronger than whatever twisted him, stronger than his loyalty to the Alliance. And now the others will pay for my mistakes.  
  
What did they do to Heero? Arthur thought back to the hurt expression he'd seen on Heero's face for an instant. Whatever they did to him, it's not really Heero anymore. Heero would never allow himself to be hurt by something like that. He isn't weak, like me.  
  
Arthur lay on his side and curled up in ball, hugging his knees to his chest. Despite what had happened, despite everything he'd seen, he still couldn't get that one image of Heero out of his mind, couldn't help but wish there was something he could do for him. Everything that had happened, and he still wanted to help Heero. Heero was the enemy, and Arthur's failure to realize that, to accept it, was going to hurt the others, was going to hurt the Alliance. Once again he fought for control. I wish I were dead.  
  
  
----------  
  
  
Rina stared at the image on the monitors, of the boy lying on his side on the bed. Despite what she knew about him, what she knew him to be capable of, Arthur was one of the most pathetic images she could have imagined. Heero seemed worried, actually worried about his companion. "I've never seen him like this," he muttered, staring at the images. "I've never seen him close up like this."  
  
"Have you ever seen him in the chamber?" Rina asked suddenly. Heero had given her the design specifications while they were waiting for Arthur to wake up. She had studied them, horrified at first. She had known that the Alliance people were cruel, but subjecting them to that when they were only five? Intellectually she knew that they had been as intelligent and as mature as she had been, but emotionally it was hard to accept - the only five-year-olds she had ever been around had been full human, intellectually and emotionally immature. Even if the original training had been to strengthen their resistance, this continuous punishment for Arthur was unforgivable. That punishment, along with everyone he respected constantly telling him that he was weak, a failure, had obviously warped his mind, possibly beyond repair. That was what had prompted her question now.  
  
"No, isolation is a big part of its effectiveness." Heero seemed surprised by her question.  
  
"And how long do you say most people last?"  
  
"Fifteen, maybe twenty minutes. All five of us have tolerances of well over an hour, though. I expect that your people could be trained to higher tolerances, as well." He was trying to anticipate the direction of her thinking, but this time he missed entirely.  
  
"And how long is Arthur's tolerance?"  
  
"I know they've left him in there for over three hours, and he has always come back with his mind intact," Heero said, now following her train of thought. "It seems impossible, even for one of us. You think that he developed this behavior as a defense, and that the reason I've never seen it is because he only did it in the chamber?"  
  
"That's what I was thinking, but you're the one who's lived with him all your life."  
  
"It's a possibility, but I don't know why he would revert to that behavior now. We're not torturing him."  
  
"Maybe you don't think so, but maybe it seems like torture to him."  
  
Heero stared at her, then narrowed his eyes slightly. "I don't understand."  
  
Rina closed her eyes against the pain that threatened to overwhelm her. The emotional training really had taken hold with Heero. He honestly didn't seem to understand, or even consider, human emotions as a part of people's lives. She wondered if that would ever change. "There are many types of torture, only a few of which people can actually use against one another. The reason for that is because most tortures are only done by the people to themselves. Arthur obviously feels loyalty to you, and to the Alliance, and hates both as well."  
  
"For what Mem did to him."  
  
"Among other things. And now you, becoming his enemy, working against the Alliance. It may feel like torture to him."  
  
"What do you suggest I do?"  
  
"Just wait, for now. See if anything changes."  
  
  
------------  
  
  
Things didn't change. Arthur refused to talk to Heero, refused to communicate at all, and he wouldn't eat. It was more than distrust because of anything they might have put in the food. He's trying to die, by starvation if no other means presents itself. It was working, too. One day passed, then another, on the morning to of the third day, Heero tried again. Rina reviewed the one-sided conversation in her head, as she viewed it through the speakers.   
  
"You have to eat, or you'll die. Is that what you really want?"  
  
"If you don't eat, I'll bring in an I.V. I didn't bring you here to die, Arthur. I brought you here to learn the truth. You want to know that, don't you?"  
  
Throughout all of this, Arthur sat on the low mattress, his legs bent in front of him, his arms resting on his knees. His back was curled, his head remained down, and he didn't respond to verbal communication, not even to look at Heero. Rina found herself fascinated by him. Watching these boys was sometimes like watching a distorted image of herself. She saw things in them that, when she thought about it, she could also recognize in herself. It was both fascinating and disturbing, to get insights like that, but she couldn't look away.  
  
There are layers and layers to us. He looks like he's given up, he may even think that on the surface of his thoughts, but at some level it's also a trap, to get us to underestimate him. It's like me - I do appreciate friendships, and know that they have value for themselves, but at some level I know that I also use them as tools. I hate that in myself. I wonder if he does, too?  
  
A few hours after that conversation, Hero had come to her. She put down what she had been working on and put on a curious face, although she was irritated at the interruption - the things she was working on were very urgent, and the sort of thing that only she could do in the time allotted. But then, Arthur was important as well. "Yes?"  
  
"Will you speak to him, as you did to me?"  
  
Rina managed to cover her surprise. "Why?"  
  
"Because he will not listen to me, and I don't want him to die. If it is as you say, and he still does have the emotions that are no longer present in me, then it will take someone who can understand him to convince him that I speak the truth. I cannot understand him."  
  
"Heero, you've known him your whole life. You must know him better than me."   
  
"I don't. I never talked to him, except during missions, and even if I had, I still wouldn't be able to understand him. I don't understand anything having to do with normal emotions."  
  
He is good at recognizing his own weaknesses, much better at it than me. They would have trained that in him. "I'll try."  
  
"Right away," he said it in flat tones, but she recognized it as an order.  
  
"No."  
  
"No?" he couldn't seem to believe his ears.  
  
"No," she repeated. "I have work to finish here first, work that only I can do."  
  
"Arthur hasn't eaten or drunk anything in over four days. Even we can't survive that long without nutrients and liquids."  
  
"Many more people will die if I don't finish this in the next hour."  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"Resource management. Yesterday the Alliance hit another food-producing colony. We managed to evacuate almost everyone in time..." Only almost. "But now there is another problem. Refuge is crowded enough already, and though we are working on expanding, it's not easy to do so without the Alliance noticing. Also, there is the problem of food. Thanks to the strike there is less available to the colonists then ever before, and now we have many more people to feed. I'm trying to figure out how to make the food last until we can get more."  
  
"Let me do that."  
  
"What?"  
  
"You're talking about resource management, high-level numbers juggling, right?"  
  
Relief flooded through Rina as she realized what he was suggesting. It was true, he could do it, and in less time than the computers. She'd never realized - well she had known it intellectually, but had never thought what it would really be like, to have someone who could do the things she could do, so that the entire load wasn't on her shoulders. "You're sure you can do it?"  
  
"The Alliance had me manage troop resources. This isn't that much different. You'll go to Arthur immediately?"  
  
"I will. When you're done with the numbers, take them to Mrs. Green down in Refuge right away. Ask the man outside the door, he'll know where she is."  
  
"Mrs. George Green?" he asked, a hint of surprise in his voice.  
  
"Yes." Rina froze as she remembered something. "Mrs. Green's husband was assassinated by one of you. Was it Arthur?"  
  
"It was his first kill."  
  
Rina's mind raced ahead. "Once you deliver those number to her, come back up here. I may need help moving Arthur."  
  
"What are you planning?"  
  
"Something emotional to shock him out of that trance, if nothing else works."  
  
  
---------  
  
  
Arthur saw the door open and a figure walk in out of the corner of his eye. He was tired, very tired, a sign that the lack of food was beginning to take it's toll. "Hello," said a soft voice, not Heero's. In his surprise, Arthur raised his head up off his chest. It was the girl, Rina Krace, the ambassador's daughter. She carried a large metal rod in her hands, and not much else. She was a Rebel. They've finally come to try to torture me for information, he thought, a little surprised. Then he was more surprised that he felt any surprise at that statement. What had he been expecting? He let his head fall back to his chest. Physical torture held no fear for him after the chamber. His training had done it's job.  
  
"I know that you'll automatically disbelieve anything I tell you," she said, leaning against the opposite wall, studying him. "The same way you're refusing to believe the evidence that Heero's shown you." Arthur didn't bother to respond to such a stupid statement.  
  
"Even he wasn't as thick-headed as you're being, but I think that may be because you're a little more human than he is. They punished you for it, so you've invented excuses in your mind for almost anything. Is that right?" She paused for an answer. "Is that right?" she asked a little more sharply. He still didn't respond, and she sighed. "Heero has asked me to provide some incontrovertible evidence that the Alliance has been concealing things from you, so here I am.  
  
"Do you know who I am?" she asked, dropping to one knee to examine his face. He could also see hers. She was only fourteen, and looked twelve. Fourteen was very young... for a human. "Or, more to the point, did Heero tell you what I am?"  
  
Heero? She calls him Heero? That was Arthur's first thought. Then came the second, What does she mean, *what* I am?  
  
"I guess not." She took a few steps back, being careful to stay in Arthur's range of vision. Then she raised the metal rod in front of her, and bent it in half. When she moved her fingers, he could see the indentations they'd left in the metal. "Here." She pushed the rod into his fingers, and he could feel that it was solid steel.   
  
He raised his head slightly. "How...?"  
  
"There weren't five of you, there were ten. Five girls and five boys. I'm the only one of the others to have survived, and I'm the Phoenix."  
  
"What?" he automatically tried to stand up. She was his enemy. His attempt failed - his body was too weak.   
  
"Here," she said, again kneeling beside him. Her voice radiated comfort and warmth. From out of nowhere she produced a glass of water and some pills. "These will help replace some of the nutrients you've lost."  
  
"No," he croaked.  
  
"Please. I've got enough blood on my hands," she said, softly pleading. "I didn't mean for any of you to die when I decided to trap Heero."  
  
Decided to trap Heero? Despite himself, Arthur was overwhelmed by his curiosity. Against his better judgement, he found himself taking the pills and drinking out of the glass she held. Even as he leaned back against the wall, he could feel the nutrients rushing through his body, revitalizing him, as did the water. He took the glass from her and drained it - she quickly refilled it with a pitcher of water she'd brought along. He drank all of that, too, but when she refilled it a second time, he just held it in his lap. "You're my enemy."  
  
"I am the enemy of the Alliance."  
  
"Same thing."  
  
"Not necessarily. Heero thought so, too, but not anymore."  
  
"What did you do to him?" Arthur didn't bother to disguise the hate in his voice.  
  
"I showed him the truth about the Alliance, and what they've done to you guys, and what they've done to the colonies." She gestured to the file of papers Heero had brought on the first day. Arthur hadn't touched them yet. "The information is there, but I don't suppose you'd believe them even if you had read them. So I decided to bring a little more solid proof of what they've done - me."  
  
"How?"  
  
"They didn't want girls - they wanted ten boys, but the head scientists tricked them. She's dead now, by the way. They tried to kill me, along with all of the other girls, but they made a few mistakes, so I survived. I joined the Rebels to protect the colony against the Alliance."  
  
"The Alliance protects the colonies!"  
  
"It controls the colonies, and the products it produces. There are products that can only be made here. There are metals here that can only be forged here, for example, because of the concentration of minerals in the Centari soil. So by controlling the colonies, especially Alpha, they gain a monopoly on those products. They keep the populace under control through morale-destroying methods, like the random sweeps, constant presence of soldiers, and the way they control food, air, things we need to survive. I joined the Rebels to stop that, first by invading the Alliance's computer and warning them, then by joining them and leading them directly. As the Phoenix."  
  
"I predicted the name had symbolism," he said smugly. "It does, doesn't it?"  
  
She stared at him, suddenly intense. Arthur had seen the same sort of mood swings in the others. "It does. You know, in some ways you're more dangerous than the others. You understand people."  
  
"I don't know what you're talking about."  
  
"I think you do." The intensity was gone just as suddenly as it had come. "I also know that you're different then them. You think of those feelings you have as weaknesses, but I don't view them that way."  
  
He didn't know how to respond to that statement.  
  
"Despite everything they've told you, you are human. All of you are. The only difference between you and the others is that the emotional training they gave you when you were young didn't take as well, so hints of the emotions you all should have keep breaking through. They punish you for it, which lead you to believe that it really is a weakness."  
  
"It is." Arthur noticed that he had stopped resisting everything she said. She was good, slowly coaxing him along, subtly trying to get in and make him turn. He was alert for that, now. It wouldn't work with him.  
  
"Do you consider me weak?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Don't lie. Don't look at me as a fourteen-year-old kid. Look at me as a fellow subject of the experiment that spawned you. I'm as strong as you are, and as smart. I've been beating your security system for years, and the Alliance never caught me. Think of me as the Phoenix. Am I weak?"  
  
Arthur was furious at the thought that she'd managed to beat his system, but he concentrated on the question. "No," he admitted grudgingly.  
  
"I have a full range of human emotions. They can be a weakness, but they can also be an ally. They make me stronger, sometimes, as I'm sure they have made you. Heero tells me that they punished you almost daily for having emotions, that you have a resistance to this chamber of theirs that seems almost impossible, even for us. There is something stronger in you, something the Alliance has denied because it might make you strong enough to break away from them."  
  
Unbidden, thoughts of all the times he had questioned the Alliance's motives came to mind, all of the times he had resented, even resisted their instructions. He felt his control slipping slightly and fought to regain it. "No."  
  
She sighed again. "Fine." She reached into her pocket and pulled out several more pills. "Take these. Will you be able to walk in a half-hour?"   
  
Arthur tested his strength by sitting up. "Yes."  
  
"Good. There's something I want to show you."  
  
Arthur sat very still for some time after she left, thinking of the strange girl. He couldn't doubt her statement that she was one of them, created by the same scientists. He could feel the sameness inside of her. He also knew that she believed she was telling him the truth about the Alliance. No one could lie to him, not even one of the others. But he couldn't believe her statement that he wasn't really weaker than the others, that he was a human. It couldn't be. Just because she believed it didn't mean it was really true. Humans could be wrong.  
  
  
---------  
  
  
Rina changed from the loose-fitting pants and shirt she wore around the base into a short-sleeved dress she wore in public, both in the colony and in Refuge. She also changed her skin and hair color, and put on a pair of green contact lenses. By then almost an hour had passed since her discussion with Heero - it had taken some time to verify a few things and to get the nutrient pills here. She'd already sent Michael down to Refuge. Rina tapped her fingers nervously against her leg, an unconscious habit she was trying to rid herself of - that sort of thing could be a deadly giveaway in the game she played. She couldn't afford to show any weakness, ever. Except for the dozen people in her inner circle, no one knew who she was. It was safer that way, but it also made it harder for her to command most of the Rebels, the ones who never saw her face. None of that, now. Focus on the task at hand.  
  
The task at hand wasn't more pleasant. She could tell from the way he looked at her that Arthur was constantly analyzing her, trying to find her weaknesses, trying to figure out her method. He could probably do it, given enough time. In that last meeting she had raised questions in his mind, but he couldn't face the fact that the Alliance was wrong, evil. He had obviously questioned it before, but had built a mental block around the Alliance. It punished him, and he hated it, but the problem had to be with him, not the Alliance. It might have saved his sanity before, but now it was stopping him from seeing the truth. She had to shock him out of it. What she was about to do was risky, dangerous, and cruel. It was just the sort of action the Phoenix was known for, and what she hated most in herself.   
  
She forced her hand to stop moving as Heero opened the door. "I finished the report and delivered it, like you ordered. What are you going to do?"  
  
"I got Arthur to eat some nutrient pills, so he'll be well enough to move when I take him down to Refuge."  
  
"You're taking him to Refuge?" Heero asked. "But he's still serving the Alliance!"  
  
"He won't face the truth, and nothing we say is going to change that. Desperate times call for desperate measures."  
  
"You're going to use Mrs. Green against him," Heero observed, and Rina started. She just couldn't get used to the idea of people who understood her mind this well, who could guess what she was thinking so easily.   
  
"Yes."  
  
"It's dangerous."  
  
"Yes."  
  
"But you don't think there's another way?"  
  
"If you can think of one, I'd be glad to hear it."  
  
"No, I can't."  
  
"If we take him out of here, will he try to run?"  
  
"Probably. But the two of us can take him."  
  
"That's not the point. I don't want him hurting anyone, and I don't want him getting hurt." Up until I'm ready, that is.  
  
"Put a pair of handcuffs on him, and bring the dart gun along."  
  
"Handcuffs won't hold him."  
  
"But he'll understand the message. A real gun and he might run anyway, hoping that we would shoot him. A dart gun and he just ends up back in here. The handcuffs won't stop him, but they might slow an attack, and that will give us all the warning we need."  
  
"Fine." Rina reached over and pulled a pair of handcuffs out of her desk. Heero's lips quirked in what might have been a smile.   
  
"You keep a pair of handcuffs in your desk?"  
  
"As a matter of fact, I don't. This isn't my room - I don't keep anything that unusual or incriminating in my room. Even if you had managed to get into my study at home, you wouldn't have found anything. I just happened to know that the guy whose room this is keeps a pair of handcuffs ready. He's in charge of most of our Alliance prisoners. Lets go." They walked back to the room where Arthur was being held.  
  
He was standing when they opened the door. Rina walked in, noticing how Arthur's expression mirrored Heero's, in that there was none. "How are you feeling?" she asked. He ignored her, fastening his eyes instead on Heero. When he didn't answer, she pulled out the handcuffs. "Put your wrists in front of you."  
  
Arthur stared at her and didn't move. Heero pulled out the dart gun and aimed it at Arthur. "Do what she says," he instructed. "We know these won't hold you. Consider them a warning not to try to escape. I'll be there the entire time."  
  
Thank you, Mr. Subtlety. Rina managed not to roll her eyes. She had been right in her earlier assessment, that in many ways Arthur was the most dangerous of all of them. He could act human, and understand human motives. That was something that Heero might never learn. "We're going to a place with people who have already lost a lot to the Alliance. I won't have you bring them any more sorrow and suffering." For a moment Arthur's expression softened, not the way Heero's did, with a moment of hesitation or anger, but with genuine feeling and sorrow. Then it was gone.   
  
Arthur put his hands out in front of him. "I don't suppose giving you my word that I won't attack anyone would be sufficient."  
  
"Would you give me your word?"  
  
He hesitated, then shook his head. Rina sensed Heero's disapproval, and knew what he was thinking. Honor was a foreign concept, and useless except as a tool to manipulate others. Arthur should have had no problem giving Rina his word and then breaking it. Still, he does have a sense of honor, or at least integrity. She tightened the cuffs around his wrists and gently took hold of his upper arm. "Come on." They walked silently to the lift that took them down to Refuge. Once in the elevator, Heero put the dart-gun in the back of his pants, then arranged his shirt so it covered the weapon.   
  
"Where are we going?" Arthur asked once.  
  
"To a place for people who've lost everything, or almost everything, at the hands of the Alliance," Rina replied, being mysterious on purpose. Arthur obviously had no patience for those word games now and fell silent again. When the doors to the lift opened and they stepped out into Refuge, Arthur lost his composure and stared around him in awe. "This is Refuge," Rina told him, pleased with the effect the underground city had on people. The first designers had taken care to make it pretty, as well as functional, a tradition that the new designers tried to continue. "It's for people whose homes and/or families have been destroyed by the Alliance, or those who fear for the same."  
  
"It's so big," she heard Arthur murmur as he walked beside her. Heero walked a few steps behind him, out of Arthur's reach if he should choose to attack. "There are so many people."  
  
"It's been growing for nearly thirty years," Rina told him. "Huge leaps. We are almost constantly under construction, and overcrowding is still a big problem."  
  
"Huge leaps?" he asked.  
  
"You'll see why in a few minutes. I'm taking you to one of our temporary housing centers. We have a few of them spaced around the growing city. They're places for people whose homes have just been abandoned, until we can find or build them permanent homes."  
  
"We're under the Centari surface, aren't we?" Arthur asked, still looking around.   
Rina hesitated before answering. She couldn't tell if he was speaking out of curiosity, judging them, or if he was trying to pry data out of her for the Alliance. Finally she decided to tell the truth - he'd figured it out on his own, anyway. "Yes. Several kilometers out. We couldn't build under the city - first of all there are subways and tunnels down there, and even if there weren't , we couldn't build anything this big without destroying the foundation on which the city rests. The city would come crashing down and destroy this place and everyone in it. Of course, that is what would happen if the Alliance ever found this place, if it ever became more than a rumor." She glanced at Arthur to see his reaction to her statement, but his attention was riveted on a couple of kids singing a song they must have learned at preschool. He had an odd, sad expression on his face.  
  
"That's music, isn't it?"  
  
"Yes," she replied, confused. Of course it was music.   
  
"It doesn't sound like Bach, but it's beautiful, too."  
  
"Keep moving," Heero said in a low, dangerous voice when Arthur would have paused to listen. Rina would have liked to see Arthur's response and see what it was about music that so captivated him, and was irritated at Heero's interruption. She made a mental note to warn Heero not to interfere next time.  
  
Arthur seemed to remember he was a prisoner. His head dropped to his chest and he didn't speak again until they reached the housing center. Mrs. Green was working inside. She was a head organizer, which is why Rina had ordered Heero to bring the data to her - by now it was undoubtedly being used to help redistribute resources - Rina spared a moment of concern that it had been done properly. She didn't like to have these things out of her direct control. In any case, although Mrs. Green was an organizer, she liked to work with the people, too. She knew what they'd been through (most of the residents of Refuge did), and she said it was good for her to remember the people she was trying to help. It was a piece of advice that Rina tried to take to heart.   
  
Rina led Arthur inside. As he started looking around, she started having doubts. Should I do this? Even if it works, he'll probably never forgive me. I won't forget it, either. And it might not work. He might come out of it on his own, in time. But even as she thought it, Rina doubted it. Arthur had barely blinked at the realization that there were more than five of them, that she and four others had also been created, and that the doctor who created him had been killed by the Alliance. The Alliance had really twisted his mind. He needed to be shocked out of it, but still... It will hurt him, and I don't want to hurt him. Despite what he is and everything he's done, there's an innocence about him...  
  
Rina decided to try one more time to break gently through the wall he'd built around himself, to show him the truth, before she tried to shatter it. "These are all refugees," she told him. "They come from a small farming colony a few hundred kilometers from Alpha. The Alliance had it destroyed because the farm colonies are becoming more productive, producing more food and air than the Alliance wants in circulation. They would all have died if we didn't bribe some shuttle pilots to collect them and bring them to Alpha colony, and then we brought them here. Even with all we did, hundreds died, because the last shuttles didn't get out of there until the Alliance started bombarding the dome. Listen to them."   
  
Rina did what she had instructed him to do, letting various conversations, fragments of them, drift through her consciousness. "We barely made it out in time. I heard the dome seal crack as we climbed into the shuttle!" "Mommy, where's Daddy? You said he'd be along, but the shuttle took off without him. When is he coming?" "Was everything destroyed, or will we be able to go back and salvage what might have survived the vacuum? I left some things behind..." "Does anyone know who these kids belong to? Did their parents get out?"  
With some difficulty Rina stopped listening. It was very hard, sometimes. When she was young, physically, she had been forced to teach herself not to listen to everything she could hear, or she never got a moment of peace. She studied Arthur's face. He looked around the room, his eyes focusing and unfocusing as he concentrated on one dialog after another. Finally he lowered his head and closed his eyes. She could almost see what he was thinking. These people could be actors, but there were real injuries among them. How great a cost would the Rebels pay in order to trick him?  
  
"It's not true," he whispered. "It's not. It can't be true." His eyes were clear - and blank. No trace of tears, or even of any of the emotions he had displayed before. It was the same way that Heero had looked when he reported to Michael. He was retreating back into what the Alliance had taught him, shutting himself off.  
  
Rina closed her eyes. So that's it. If there is a God, I hope he forgives me for what I'm about to do, because Arthur sure won't. She let some venom creep into her voice as she said, "And that's because the Alliance is all powerful, and always right, isn't it?"  
He started at the sudden change in her. Then his training reasserted itself. "Yes."  
  
"And they love to have you kill," she said with a sneer.  
  
Arthur swallowed. "I do my duty to the Alliance. It isn't my job to question their orders."  
  
"And why not? Don't tell me that they're smarter than you, they designed us well. Wouldn't it strengthen the Alliance to have you point out its weaknesses?"  
  
"It's not my job to question orders," he said, but his reply was weaker this time.  
  
"So you just kill whenever they tell you? No hesitation at all?"  
  
"No!" he cried before he got control of himself. "No," he repeated in even tones. "I always want to know whom I'm killing, and why. And the Alliance tells me. They only have us kill dangerous people."  
  
"Is that so? I think there's someone here who might disagree with you." Rina's hand swung across the crowd to a slightly plump lady walking around the room with a clipboard, taking down information from the refugees. "Do you know her name?" His back suddenly stiffened, and she knew that he'd seen her.   
  
"No," he whispered, but it wasn't in response to her question. Rina chose to pretend that it was.  
  
"No? I thought you know who your victims are," she said, mocking. She specifically used the word victim instead of target. "Because she was one of your victims. Do you know her? Her name is Emma Green. Her husband was George Green. Heero tells me that he was your first kill. Congratulations." Her voice dripped with contempt.   
  
"No, you can't do this," Arthur said, shaking his head and trying to back up a few steps. Heero was in his way.   
  
"Mrs. Green sought us out after you killed her husband. She feared for her life, and the lives of her children. The Alliance had him killed because his research was dangerous, because he'd made an amazing discovery, but what they didn't know was that he'd already passed the knowledge along to his oldest son. Mrs. Green knew, though, and she feared for the entire family. She managed to contact us, and we smuggled them all, Mrs. Green and her children, along with her son and his family, down here. And as long as you always know whom you're killing and why, you might want to tell her why the Alliance thought that her husband was so dangerous. Shall I call her over?"  
  
There was the shriek of tortured metal as Arthur pulled his hands apart, ripping the chain between the handcuffs in half. But Rina's hand on his arm and Heero's hand on his shoulder didn't let him run away, as he clearly wanted to. He turned to Heero, a desperate look on his face. "No! Please, you can't do this! Heero, please don't let her do it!" he begged, but Heero's expression didn't change. Rina wondered whether he really felt nothing at his companion's plea, or whether he was hiding his emotions, the way she was. She wanted to stop, but she hadn't gone far enough yet. He was still excusing the Alliance, blaming the Rebels.   
  
"Do you know the true reason why her husband was so dangerous?" Rina asked in a low voice, almost a whisper. "He discovered a method of farming that would have doubled the colonies' ability to produce food. We wouldn't have been dependant on Earth anymore. His son, since being brought to Refuge, has built that system. It's the only way we can manage to stay hidden. It's not much good at sudden increases, but in a few months, with enough resources, he'll be able to expand production to cover our increased population. That's why the Alliance had his father killed - we could have been independent."  
  
Something seemed to drain out of Arthur. "They told me it was a weapon," he murmured. "I knew they lied..." He cut himself off. "They told me it was a weapon."  
  
"You knew that they lied to you?"  
  
"I didn't know!" he protested desperately. "They told me it was a weapon!"  
  
"A weapon against hunger," she said sarcastically, waiting for the wall to break. She waved a hand at Mrs. Green, who walked over.   
  
"How are you, Diana?" the woman asked.   
  
"I'm well enough," Rina said politely.  
  
"Is this one of the new arrivals?" she asked, looking at Arthur. The mangled handcuffs were hidden by the sleeves of his shirt. "Poor boy. What happened to his family?"  
  
Rina shook her head in response, and Emma immediately jumped to the conclusion that he had been orphaned in the flight, as Rina had known she would. "Poor boy! Someday the Alliance will pay for what they've done!" she cried, sudden vehemence in her voice. She reached down to touch Arthur's cheek, but he jerked his head away.   
  
"Don't touch me!"  
  
Emma jerked back. "What did I do?"  
  
"He's going through a rough time," Rina said truthfully, watching Arthur. Ask it, she thought. You know the question. Do you want the truth or don't you? Ask it!  
  
"Mrs. Green," Arthur said in a low voice, sounding miserable. "I... I heard that your husband was killed by the Alliance. I wanted... I need to know what sort of a man he was. Why did the Alliance kill him?" Rina could tell from his voice that he already knew the answers to those questions. How horrible it must have been for him - he must have known his Alliance masters were lying to him, must have known he was killing people who didn't deserve to die, but he didn't know any way that he could fight the people who had raised him. To Heero, they'd just been targets. To Arthur, they'd been people, people with faces. The block was coming down.  
  
"What a strange question," Emma said, glancing at Rina. "My husband? He was a good man, a wonderful father, and always kind to me. He cared about people, which was why he continued his research, even after the Alliance brutes came around and told him to stop. He saw what was going to happen, I believe, because he taught Eric about his work, and left me clues on how to contact the Rebels. So he went on caring for me and showing that he loved me, even after they killed him. Why do you ask?"  
  
"I was just curious," Arthur mumbled. Emma smiled and walked away, a confused expression on her face. Arthur stumbled several steps away, and this time Rina let him. She was done here. All that was left was to heal the damage she'd done. Arthur gripped his head with both hands, and she heard him muttering to himself. "No! Why?... Everything was lies... I killed... they made me..." Suddenly he gasped as if in pain, and spun around to face Rina. "Why are you doing this to me!?" he cried, and lunged at Rina.   
  
He was still weak from the days without food, and a little slower than usual, so she sidestepped as he tried to punch her and grabbed his arm as it moved past her head. She was just in time to hold him as he went into some sort of fit, fighting madly, but not against Rina. Heero pulled out the dart gun, but she shook her head and it disappeared back into it's hiding place. He grabbed Arthur's other arm, and it still took the two of them to quiet Arthur. Finally he stopped struggling, standing quietly between them, breathing deeply.   
  
"What are you doing?!" shouted a voice from across the room. Rina looked up as Mike started racing over. "Let go of him!" the shout was also a command. Heero looked at Rina, who nodded, and they released Arthur. Without their hands on his arms, he dropped to his knees. His back shook, and he took deep breaths, but no tears fell and he made no sounds.  
"He's crying," Heero told her, expressionless. "Our commanders disapproved, but by doing it this way, he could hide it from them, sometimes." He fell silent as Mike reached them, dropping to his knees beside Arthur.  
  
"Four!" he cried, and he put more sympathy and caring into that designation then Rina would have thought possible.   
  
Arthur looked up at Mike. "Mike?" he asked, sounding confused. "What are you doing here? Did they capture you, too?"  
  
He calls him Mike, not Mr. Teel, Rina thought, her mind chasing down all the implications of that one word.  
  
"Capture?" Mike glanced at Rina and Heero, and she saw comprehension dawn. "No! I deserted the Alliance years ago. I've been a Rebel for over nine years now."  
  
"You have? They told us that you were transferred."  
  
"No. I protested too loudly about the way they treated you boys. I heard rumors that they were going to eliminate me, so I ran. I didn't have time to tell you, I'm sorry. Within a year I joined the Rebels. I wanted to strike back at the people who would do the things they did to you. I hoped that one day I'd be able to find you guys and take you away from the Alliance."  
  
"You joined the Rebels because of me?"  
  
"Yes! I'm sorry, I wanted to come back for you, but I couldn't find you. Four, are you all right?"  
  
"My name is Arthur, now." Arthur smiled weakly and sat back on his heels. "I think Four died a couple of minutes ago, when I met Emma Green."  
  
"Emma Green?"  
  
"I killed her husband. I murdered him in cold blood, because the Alliance told me to. I should have fought them. I should have found out the truth. I knew they were lying to me."  
  
Mike glanced across the room, and once again Rina saw him understand. This time the realization was accompanied by a fair amount of horror. Mike's face grew cold as he put an arm under Arthur's shoulder. "Come on. Can you walk?"  
  
"I don't think so. I haven't eaten anything in several days." Mike pulled Arthur to his feet, then tried to support him as Arthur almost collapsed again. Rina moved forward to help, but Heero beat her to it.  
  
"Here, I'll carry him." Heero got himself under Arthur's arm, and with no apparent difficulty started to half-carry, half-drag Arthur towards the door they'd entered by.   
  
"Not there," Mike stopped him. "I have a small room in the back through there." He pointed. "There's a bed where he can lie down, and we can talk."  
  
Heero nodded once and started carrying Arthur to the other door. Rina would have followed, but the angry look Mike was wearing stopped her dead in her tracks. Mike waited until he thought that Heero and Arthur were out of hearing range, then said to her, "How could you do that to him? You really aren't human, are you?"  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Well, that wasn't pleasent for anyone involved, but it was necessary. But I think it bothered Rina a whole lot more than she lets on.   
One more thing, at one point, Mrs. Green calls Rina 'Diana'. That wasn't a typo, it's just Rina not using her real name with people who get to see her face. That's also where I got the name that I used in 'The Others.'  
Marika 


	11. Part 10

Rina hung around the housing center for a few hours, helping Mrs. Green and the others, reminding herself of what she was protecting with all the fighting. After everything was taken care of and the center was closing down for the night, Rina went back to her office on base by herself, and automatically sat at her computer. I should check on those reports Heero made, she told herself. Double-check his numbers, or something. Rina called up the figures, and tried to concentrate on them, but she just couldn't seem to focus. She was tired, worn out by her fight with Arthur. But it was more than that, something she couldn't put her finger on... I slept last night - not well, but what else is new? I ate this morning... Rina often forgot to eat and sleep when she got very engrossed with a project. Because of what she was, she could go for long periods without eating or sleeping, but as Heero had said, even their bodies couldn't go on forever. This morning she had remembered to eat, but that reminded her of something she did forget. Rina reached into the drawer and took one of her pills. She'd forgotten to, this morning.  
  
"You really aren't human, are you?" Mike's angry words rang in her ears as if he was still here, repeating them for her.   
  
She rubbed her eyes and cleared the screen. That was it. Mike's words, spoken in a moment of thoughtless anger, had hit home on one of her deepest fears. Despite everything she'd said to the boys, Rina wasn't sure she was human. Would a human have been able to do what she did to Arthur today? Mike obviously hadn't thought so. But I had to do it, or we would have lost him. If we lose one, we could lose everything. She had freed Arthur from the Alliance's training - whether or not he ever forgave her was another matter.   
  
Rina had few illusions about herself, or at least, she thought she had few illusions. What a joke it would be is if that was the biggest illusion of all! She knew that she made the people around her uncomfortable - the more they knew, the more uncomfortable they got. Most of the time she convinced herself that it was because they were uneasy with the conflict between the gentle, innocent image she presented and the harsh, ruthless words that came out of her mouth. But sometimes, after a particularly hard day, she wondered if it wasn't something deeper, something that made them uncomfortable because on a basic level, they knew she wasn't human. Humans had always fought against that which was different from them, and she was as different as they came without losing the basic appearance of humanity. Appearance, yes, but do I actually have any humanity, or have they engineered it all out of me? That's the real question.   
  
Her musings were interrupted when Heero opened the door. "Did anyone ever teach you how to knock?" she asked absently.  
  
"No." He stood there like a statue, watching her.  
  
"What do you want?"  
  
"I came from Refuge. Arthur wants to talk to you."  
  
Rina closed her eyes against the pain she was sure awaited her down in Refuge, and for a moment she considered refusing his request. No one would have blamed her - today was a Sunday, so she didn't have the hours in school where she sat, bored out of her mind and thinking of the thousands of things that had to be done at base. She could practically sleep there, and still appear to be the most alert person in class. She didn't do that, of course, that would draw attention. The teachers caught her napping just as often as any of the other students, but she could basically get the little rest she needed there. Not today - today she had been up before dawn, and hadn't stopped for a second until she brought Arthur down to Refuge. Then they'd had their face-off, and then she'd worked for several more hours at the center. No, no one would blame her if she put off this reckoning for another few hours, or until tomorrow.  
  
No one except me. Rina had made it a policy to always take responsibility for whatever she did, and saw no reason to discontinue it now. Or at least I fool myself into thinking I do. "All right. Let's go."   
  
"I'll drive," Heero said as she started to climb into the driver's seat of the car. Rina stared at him, realized that she wasn't at her best right now and it would be a pretty stupid way for the Phoenix to die, driving her own car into a wall, and surrendered the seat to him.   
  
As they drove, Heero remarked, "I remember the first time Arthur killed, when he came back from his first real mission." Rina glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, wondering where this was leading. "He cried. He sobbed, while Michael, our Michael, tried to comfort him. The commanders decided that his crying was also a weakness, and they punished him until he didn't cry any more. It would have been easier to remove the tear ducts."   
  
"Heero, what are you talking about?"  
  
"I don't think you understand what the emotional training was really like." Rina didn't argue - he was right, she didn't know. "They made it so the only way I could feel any pleasure was when I completed my mission. One of the happiest moments I can remember was when I killed Representative Surd, my first mission." There was no hint of apology in his voice, he might have well have been another person, or a computer reporting the facts of an incident. "The others are like that too. When you first started telling me the truth, I couldn't even think badly about the Alliance. I can be angry at them, now, but I don't feel anything else. I felt a little pleasure when we succeeded in capturing Arthur. This is the first time I have ever made my own mission - I think I will feel more pleasure when I get used to the idea." Again, there was no emotion in his voice, no longing for pleasure, no sense of anticipation. He was just stating facts. They really did a job on him. "With Arthur, they failed partway. He could feel no real joy in anything other than completing his mission, although I think they had to train that into him much longer than the rest of us, through punishment when he did feel joy about other things. But because he retained some feelings, the remorse he felt when he killed overpowered the pleasure he was supposed to feel. I do not believe he has felt any real pleasure in years."  
  
Poor boy, Rina thought, but she didn't think that was the point Heero was trying to make. "What is this about, Heero?"  
  
His eyes didn't leave the road. "As you said before, at some level he realized that what he was doing wasn't right. He now knows what the Alliance really is, what it's real motives are, so he can reject the desire to kill openly. I imagine that that will have a lot of meaning for him, and that he will appreciate what you have done for him. He is intelligent, as you well know. He doesn't blame you for what you did."  
  
That shocked Rina's weary brain to alertness. "He doesn't?"  
  
"We all do things that we do not wish to do, and that we regret. I predict that Arthur will be much... happier, experience more pleasure now that he is away from the Alliance. I also think, him being who he is, that he will not want you to suffer over what you did to bring him happiness."  
  
Rina found Heero's words mildly reassuring, but something else interested her. "Heero, why are you telling me this?"  
  
"I don't want you to suffer, because Arthur would not want it."  
  
"But why does that matter? I think that you do have emotions, they're just hidden very deeply."  
  
"No."  
  
"No? Does that mean you refuse to concede the possibility?"  
  
Heero, right on the edge of another denial, hesitated. Refusing to concede the possibility of something was always wrong. There was nothing so certain that circumstances might not change it. One day the sun would not rise again, it would dwindle as it ran out of fuel, or go nova and swallow this world. If she had asked him a week ago how he would spend the rest of his life, he probably would have said, "Serving the Alliance." They had trained him too well, in ways. He was a slave to efficiency, expediency. He was logical enough to search for and find the truth in her statements, at which point it was no longer logical to stay and serve those who had betrayed him. "I concede the possibility, but I think it's as likely as the Alliance handing over control of Alpha colony to you tomorrow."  
  
"I think you do have emotions. There is no gain in you trying to ease my suffering."  
  
"I told you, I did it because it's what Arthur would want."  
  
"And what gain is there in that? You want to make Arthur happy - why? There's an illogical motive in there, somewhere."  
  
Heero only grunted and stared out the front window of the car.  
  
  
---------  
  
  
Arthur turned his head as he heard something coming up the hall. Two pairs of footsteps. That would be Heero, returning with the girl, the Phoenix. "Are you sure you want to do this?" Mike asked, a dark expression on his face. "I can't believe you want to do this... after what she did...."  
  
"She did that for my own good," Arthur said, thinking of how many times he had told himself that it was for his own good as he was punished, over and over again. How wonderful it felt to say the words and actually believe them! "I never thought I would see you again, and I never thought... I never even dreamed about so many things. This place... this place is so beautiful. Do they even know how beautiful it is? I heard music today. It was wonderful."  
  
Mike stared at him with a half-doubting, half-jealous expression on his face. "Still..." he broke off when the door entered and the other two strode into the room. Although the girl held her head erect, Arthur suddenly realized that she was tired, exhausted, and not just physically. It was easy to see that she was one of them, but it was hard to remember that she was also the Phoenix. In some ways how much harder her life had to be, making so many decisions that influenced so many people's lives. To have all of the weight of those decisions on her shoulders... Poor girl.  
  
All he ever did was follow orders - Arthur felt anger growing inside of him at the way he had allowed himself to believe what they were telling him, even when he saw the signs that told him they were lying. He had known the truth, but had turned away from it - he should have fought them. I can fight them now.  
  
"Hello. You wanted to talk to me?" the girl asked, drawing in a deep breath. He was startled when he recognized the mannerism - it was the way he prepared himself for punishment. Why would she think she was about to be punished? I may not blame her for what she did, but she does.  
  
"I wanted to thank you," Arthur said as earnestly as he could.   
  
"You what?" There was a hint of hope in her voice.  
  
"I realize I was being foolish, blinding myself to the truth," he told her. "I apologize for that, and I want you to know how much I appreciate what you've given me."  
  
He saw tears in her eyes before she turned her head away, and wanted to comfort her. Well, why couldn't he? He wasn't at base now, the commanders weren't watching him, ready to punish him if he showed the slightest weakness! He pushed aside the covers on the bed Mike had put him in. He'd had something to eat in the last few hours, and felt much stronger. The food was good here, not the protein bars they gave him back at base. There were so many good things in the colonies! He reached out and touched her shoulder gently, not sure of how she would respond. She gasped and drew back, raising her hands defensively. Then she relaxed slightly. "Sorry. I've been a little on edge in the last few days."  
  
"Because of us," he guessed.   
  
She nodded agreement. "Because of you. I am sorry for what I did to you."  
  
"I know you are." He sat back, looking at her. "I never imagined that there might be a girl."  
  
"No reason you should. They concealed the evidence well. I expect that even some of your former masters don't even know I exist."  
  
"You're not what I would have expected, if I had guessed."  
  
A flash of amusement passed over her face. "And what would you have expected?"  
  
"A girl more like them, not really a girl. But you are a girl."  
  
"Thanks, I think."  
  
"You're beautiful, too."  
  
"I'm exactly the way I was designed, same as you. It's an ugly truth that some rules are easier to get around if you have a pretty face."  
  
"That's not what I was talking about," he said, leaning forward again. He studied her and said, "And you know it, too." It was strange, but he felt as if he had known her his entire life. She seemed to feel it, too. "There are so many beautiful things, here."  
  
She smiled again, and he was amazed at how beautiful she was, inside and out. "Refuge has it's own charm. Sometimes I wish I could stay here all the time. There are almost no lines of communication to the outside world from here - it's too dangerous. It would be very easy to forget."  
  
"No it wouldn't."  
  
"Not in some ways. In others..."  
  
"Can I look around?"  
  
"Not right now."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Because it's two in the morning. All the normal humans are asleep, so there's nothing to see, and I have to get back to my house. I have school in the morning."  
  
Arthur smiled, then let it broaden into a chuckle. "What do you do in regular school?"  
  
She grinned back at him. "Sit around and wait for the day to end so I can get some real work done." She paused, and the laughter left her face. "Is there anything I can do for you?"  
  
He understood that she still felt guilty about what she had done earlier. "Yes. Tell me how I can help. I want to fight the Alliance."  
  
"Are you sure?" she asked slowly, but he heard her heartbeat speed up a little, and knew she was excited. "I don't want to force you to fight again if you don't want to - we're better than the Alliance."  
  
"I don't mind fighting - it's the killing I don't like. There are ways to fight without killing your enemy. Mike and I have been talking about everything the Alliance has done, not only to us, but to all the colonists. Everything they ever told me about their intentions was a lie. A lot of things they told me about me were lies, too. I want to pay them back for everything they've done." He smiled eagerly.  
  
  
----------  
  
  
Rina managed to make it through the entire day of school without falling asleep once. She had plenty to occupy her mind. It was frightening how quickly and thoroughly the boys changed their loyalties. Rina thought that she would never be able to change so quickly, then rethought it. If she had been shown good evidence that the Rebels had lied to her, that their goals were the same as the Alliances, and had been through what they'd been through, maybe she'd come over like they had. The Alliance was it's own worst enemy - it's training and recruiting methods bred no true loyalty to unchanging ideals, just to one greedy, power-grabbing person after another. The only reason the boys hadn't seen through it before now is that Director Yirtz had been smart enough to cloak his goals in an idealistic view of the Alliance. It was very easy to find evidence that shattered that idealism, though.  
  
That thought, however, caused her to reevaluate the danger Director Yirtz posed to her, to the Rebels, to everything. Before now most of his attention had been focussed inward, while he played God-Creator to the boys and was able to force his every whim upon them. Now that they were going to free the other three, his attention would be focussed outward, on the Phoenix who had taken his toys from him. On her. Rina shivered, and one of the boys leaned over and whispered, "Are you cold, Ri?"  
  
"Just a little chill," she assured him, and went back to her thoughts. She would have to be extra careful from now on. Not that she wasn't always careful, but Yirtz was dangerous. He knew her capabilities, knew her limits...   
  
Rina was disrupted from her thoughts by the bell that signaled the end of the day. She quickly gathered up her things and climbed into the limo that waited to take her home. To her surprise, her father was waiting inside. "Father!" she exclaimed, and hugged him. "What are you doing here?"  
  
"I wanted to talk to you," he said. "I thought we might get a little bit of privacy here."  
  
Rina immediately checked the internal scanner in the limo to see if there were any bugs.  
  
"It's clean," her father assured her. "I've been worried about you. There are all sorts of rumors at the highest levels of the government of a security breach, defectors, and God-knows what else."  
  
"I'm sorry, but the surveillance has been heavier than usual lately. It hasn't been safe to talk. And..."  
  
"And it's really not safe now, even if there isn't anyone watching," he finished her statement. "I was just worried."  
  
"I'm fine," Rina assured him, then dropped her voice. "Father, two of the others, like me, they've joined us." His eyes widened at that little revelation, and she saw him starting to fit bits and pieces of information he'd heard into the bigger pattern. "We're going to free the rest, too. I can't tell you more than that."  
  
"That's plenty," he said, sitting back, and she could practically see him putting the pieces together. "It may be too much. I'll do my best to forget it. Just so long as you're safe."  
  
"I'm in no more danger than I ever was," she reminded him. "It's strange, these boys. In some ways, they're so much like me it's frightening. Sometimes I think I can read their thoughts, and they can read mine. But they're so different, too. One of them never has any expression at all, and the other... he's even stranger. Most of the time he acts like a normal person, if not a normal boy. Then, there's this sudden switch, and he's the soldier that the Alliance created. It's frightening, in a way. They remind me of caged wild animals, docile most of the time, waiting to strike."  
  
"Are you sure it was a good idea to bring them here?"  
  
"I'm sure of nothing. But I can't help but like them, or at least empathize with them. They understand me in a way no human has ever been able to. No, it's not your fault, Father," she said as he began to look upset. "I'm just not entirely human. They're the same as me, in a number of ways, and they can understand me, even take over for me. It's a refreshing experience."  
  
"So they will be able to take over some of your duties."  
  
"At least at first. There isn't much time remaining."  
  
  
----------  
  
  
When Rina got home, changed out of her school clothes and into some more appropriate to the street, she snuck out of her house through the back door, careful to evade the Alliance spies still watching her house. Officially, Rina Krace was not feeling well, which was why she didn't leave the house much after school these days. Unofficially, everyone knew that her father had grounded her for some unspecified activity. Rumors ran rampant through the press about what that activity was. Rina didn't care what they thought about her, as long as it pointed them in the wrong direction.   
  
By the time she got to the base, it was in an uproar. Mike had his hands full defending the two boys from half of the base's security. Or rather, he was protecting the security from the boys by not letting them attack the two seemingly defenseless youngsters. "What's going on here?!" Rina demanded, and everyone fell silent. Not everyone there knew she was the Phoenix, but those who didn't know who she was knew that she spoke for the Phoenix, and thought it was best to humor her.   
  
"They're playing havoc with our security system!" Brandon, head of their computer security, complained.   
  
"What did they do?"  
  
"That one," he pointed to Arthur, "said that he was just going to fix up some holes in our security, and he built an entirely new level around everything! I don't even know if the old passwords will work."  
  
"They'll work," Arthur said firmly. He radiated quiet confidence.   
  
"And then..." Brandon continued, "that one," he pointed at Heero, "starts ordering me around, saying that me getting in the other one's way is inefficient, or some other garbage."  
  
"Does the system work?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"Does the system work? Is it superior to our old one? I haven't had the time to make up a new layer of defenses lately."  
  
"Yeah, it works," Brandon said grudgingly, shooting an admiring glance at Arthur. "It's some of the best work I've ever seen, except yours."  
  
"It's probably better than mine," Rina said honestly. "So, other than the fact that you weren't notified of the changes beforehand, there's no problem?"  
  
"Well... he's just a kid!"  
  
Rina stared at him until the obvious problem with his statement was readily apparent to everyone present, then made it more obvious. "He is just a kid," she said softly. "Like me."  
  
Brandon paled. He knew what she was - not exactly, but enough to fill in many of the blanks, and enough to identify the boys. "Sorry, sir," he said softly. "I didn't realize."  
  
"No, it's my fault," Rina said. "I should have introduced them before, explained some of our protocol to them... I should have warned you."  
  
"It's all right," he said, shaking his head and backing up.   
  
"And you guys?" Rina asked, turning to the head of the guards who'd come.  
  
The guard, not knowing who Rina was but realizing he was in well over he head, held up his hands defensively. "We just came when we heard shouting, and saw Mr. Brandon shouting at a couple of kids we'd never seen before. If the Phoenix brought them in..."  
  
"The Phoenix did bring them here. They've joined up, and may need weapons from you later."  
  
"Weapons?" he stared doubtfully at them. Then he caught the look on her face and saluted. "Yes sir. Whatever the Phoenix says."  
  
As they went back to their posts, Rina turned wearily to the other two, wondering how many more problems they'd cause today. "What say we go introduce you to all of the department heads, all the ones who know who I am? That way no one gets shot by Rebels before we can hurt the Alliance."  
  
  
---------  
  
  
Rina went around and introduced them to everyone important, and a few people who needed to know them in order to do their jobs. They were met with a fair amount of distrust on all sides. Those who didn't know who and what they were couldn't trust them because they looked like kids, and those who knew who and what they were didn't trust them because they came from the Alliance. Nevertheless, Rina was determined to integrate them into the Rebels, and sooner rather than later. She was in the middle of explaining the system Dr. Green had developed, the one that allowed them to keep Refuge a secret, when Trish, their head of communications, came in. Trish was a brilliant woman whose home had been destroyed by the Alliance when one of their experimental missiles went off course and cracked the dome that her family and a few hundred others had lived in. They'd been experimenting with plants, seeing if they could balance the oxygen and carbon dioxide exchange between the humans and their animals and the plants, to create a completely self-sustaining bubble. Once the dome had been breached, Trish and a few others managed to seal themselves in their homes until the Rebels rescued them. The few survivors from Trish's family were currently living in Refuge, but none of her children had survived.  
  
"Phoenix, there's something you need to see." She went up to the computer terminal located in that room and activated it. "We just got a feed from one of the Alliance lines we tapped, one of the old ones. We didn't expect to get any more information from that source - the Alliance knew what we did, and stopped using that line, but they never bothered to remove the tap, and neither did we. Then this started coming through." She hit a few more keys, and the screen was suddenly partially filled with... well, she didn't know what it was.  
Rina stared. At the beginning of the message, if that's what it was, there was a number 1, then a space, then a number 4, another space, and from then on the there were hundreds of letters, numbers, and symbols, half of which Rina had never even seen. They continued that way until the very end of the letter, when there was another space, then the number 3. "Have you ever seen anything like this?" Trish asked.  
  
"No."  
  
"I have," Heero said, and when Rina turned, Arthur nodded agreement. "This was one of the codes we made up years ago, when we were learning how to break them." He took a step closer and peered at the screen. "It's a message from Michael."  
  
Rina was momentarily confused, then realized they were talking about one of their comrades, not the scientist who had deserted the Alliance years ago. "What does it say?"  
"He wants to meet with us," Heero said. "In an alleyway at the edge of the dome. In less than one hour."  
  
"That doesn't give us much time to investigate," Rina observed. "It could be a trap."  
  
"I don't think so," Arthur said thoughtfully. "Can I get on there?" Trish hesitantly backed up, allowing Arthur access to the terminal. He worked feverishly for a few minutes, using Rina's back door to get into the Alliance's system. He'd been both dismayed and impressed when she showed him how she got into his system, showed him the back door she'd planted that last time. He'd shaken his head ruefully. "I knew that you were buying time. I tried to tell the commanders, but they wouldn't believe me, and they were angry that I cut off the trace." Then he fell silent, probably reliving the memory of their displeasure. Now he used the program as well as she could, making her feel that she had been lucky they hadn't listened to him, hadn't given him free reign. She never would have been able to get back in if he had.  
  
"I'm looking through their recent orders," he explained after a he got into the system. "I want to see what they've been doing..." he broke off as words appeared on the screen. "What the hell..."  
  
"What is it?" Rina looked over his shoulder.  
  
"The most recent data concerning Project Titan is an order for the capture and/or execution of Three! They're trying to kill him!"  
  
"Why?"  
  
"It doesn't say - they never told us much about these things. They've already ordered Herc and Kan to kill him. There are probably more agents out on the streets, too."  
"Is there a chance that they planted this information so that we could find it?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Well, come on."  
  
"Phoenix, you're going?" Trish asked. "But you just said it could be a trap!"  
  
"Then we'll spring it and turn the tables on them. Please call Supply, tell them to have a scanner waiting, and a car." To be sure, several of her advisors had spoken out rather strongly against her going out on these missions to capture the boys. She tried not to risk herself too much, and had exposed herself more in the last few weeks because of them then she had in the two years since she became the Phoenix. Her advisors had not been happy about that. She'd said, "Fine, if I don't go, who do you recommend? What if something goes wrong and they turn on us - is there anyone here except me that can keep up with them?"  
  
"Perhaps there is someone expendable..." Finley ventured, but stopped when she spun around.  
  
"Expendable... how about if you go, Finley?"  
  
"Me?! But..."  
  
"No one is expendable," Rina told him, furious. "That's the way the Alliance handles things, not me. I only send people to die if there's no other choice, and I won't ask anything of anyone that I won't do myself."  
  
  



	12. Part 11

{{TRANSCRIPT OF DIALOGUE FROM BASE 231.8  
STATUS: SECURITY LEVEL 1  
DATE: 35.6.20  
TOPIC: NEW MISSION FOR PROJECT TITAN  
  
  
A: How could you have just LOST two of them?  
  
  
B: The Phoenix's actions were completely unforeseen, as was One's betrayal.  
  
  
A: So we know he's joined the Rebels?  
  
  
B: He killed twelve of our men. I think that's a strong indication of where his loyalties now lie.  
  
  
A: You fool! He did that because he was running for his life. He had to know that they would figure out who he was, and that then you would kill him. You really jumped the gun, trying to terminate him like that.  
  
  
B: He had obviously already been tainted.  
  
  
A: You have no proof of that!  
  
  
B: He knew of the chameleon-effect genes that Karen put in, damn her.  
  
  
A: Transcripts of the dialog indicate he was going to tell you the identity of the Phoenix before you tried to kill him. And if that wasn't bad enough, you even fouled that up! You trained them yourself - those boys are arguably the most dangerous people alive, and you only brought along two agents! Idiot!  
  
  
B: They aren't people.  
  
  
A: And now another one has run off. That leaves you with what - two? Not a very good percentage.  
  
  
B: I've already sent them out to recover Three. We know that the Rebels didn't grab him.  
  
  
A: You know that he left of his own free will, on his own initiative. That tells you nothing about what happened to him after he left the base.  
  
  
B: They'll find him and bring him back, and then we'll discover what happened to the other two.  
  
  
A: You think he knows?  
  
  
B: I'm certain of it.  
  
  
A: Do you think you will be able to make him talk if he doesn't want to?  
  
  
B: I've never had any problems with anyone before.  
  
  
A: But that was because you had those damned creations of yours doing all the work, and now those creations are out running amuck! I think your brain has atrophied, Director. I think you've been relying too much on those boys, and you've gotten lazy.  
  
  
B: How dare you!  
  
  
A: Oh, I dare all right. And our superiors are going to dare a lot more when word of this reaches them.  
  
  
B: It will all be taken care of by then. They will succeed in catching Three, and I will break him personally, and he will tell us everything we need to know to catch the others. Once we do that, they will also be broken, and then we will have the Phoenix! Everything else becomes unimportant.  
  
  
A: I hope so, for my sake. Wasn't one of the ones who are missing the one with such a tolerance for torture?  
  
  
B: Yes, Four, but he's weak in other ways. We can break him easily.}}  
  
  
----------  
  
  
They made it to the alley with a half-hour to spare. First Rina did a sweep with the scanner she brought along - no one was lying in wait, and there were no explosives, concussion bombs, or any other weapons or traps that Rina could detect. That didn't make her feel any easier, but it meant that they would stay to see if Three - Michael - showed up. After the region scanned clear, Rina climbed one of the buildings that formed the walls of the alley - luckily only two stories tall - and crouched down to wait. She kept one eye on the street at all times.  
  
Twenty-five minutes later, a boy with white-blonde hair that fell past his shoulders and partway across his face came strolling casually down the street. Even if Rina hadn't seen his face in the files, hadn't memorized it years ago so that she knew it as well as she knew her own face, she would have known him. There was a shadow behind his eyes that she could see from here. He slowed a little as he reached the alley, then stopped in front of it. His eyes flicked back and forth across the street, then he quickly stepped into the alley, and walked to its end. Rina followed him with her eyes. He didn't seem at all surprised when both Heero and Arthur popped out of their respective hiding places, covering him with dart guns. Rina had procured a second for Arthur and some more darts for Heero a few days ago. Actually, the second had been for herself, after she saw the effectiveness of the darts on Arthur, but he needed it now more than she did. She had a regular blaster in a holster under her shoulder.  
  
He immediately raised his hands into the air. "I surrender," he said softly.  
  
"What did you say?" Heero asked.  
  
"I said I surrender. I want to talk to you, but they know I've escaped. They've got elite soldiers looking for me, and probably the others, too. We can't stay here."  
  
"What are you doing here?" Heero asked in a flat, emotionless voice.  
  
The boy seemed irritated at the delay, and with a shake of his head threw some of his hair out of his face. "When you disappeared, then reappeared with a death-warrant on your head, I was suspicious. When Arthur disappeared, I did some research of my own, beyond the information they gave us to find and catch you. Then I discovered that the order for your death had gone out before you killed the soldiers, not after. It came even before they could have possibly known whether or not the Rebels had turned you. They lied to us. When the order also came out to find and kill Arthur because he had also joined the Rebels... I did not know if he had truly joined the Rebels, but I knew if he had, if both of you had, there must be reason for it. I have come to hear those reasons, because I think it's true now." His eyes flicked to the guns.  
  
"Arthur?" Heero asked. "Is he telling the truth, or is this another trap?"  
  
"He's telling the truth," Arthur said evenly. Rina noted that neither of their aim wavered, even slightly, as they spoke.   
  
"Hold it right there!" someone shouted, and Rina quickly shifted her gaze to take in the entire alley. Two men stood at the end of the alley, holding guns. Their black and gray uniforms told her everything she needed to know. Elite shock troops. We've really got them scared, to call out the big guns.  
  
Heero and Arthur's reaction was instant. Without so much as blinking, they both shifted their aim to the men and pulled the triggers on the dart guns. Both darts hit the men in the neck, and they both immediately dropped to the ground, unconscious. Elites always hunt in fours, Rina remembered, and saw two more figures at the end of the alley. Heero and Arthur fired at them, as well, but the darts bounced off a force-shield. They're using the force-shield to protect themselves and block off the alley.   
  
"Traitors to the Alliance!" one of the soldiers said in a voice loud enough to be heard but not loud enough to draw too much attention from passerby in the street. It wasn't hard, people shied away from the menacing figures, and often didn't even look at them when they passed in the street. Those who exhibited too much interest in the elite troops tended to end up dead. "We have concussion bombs that will stop even you. We have been instructed not to use them if possible, because they may kill humans nearby, but if you don't throw your guns out here right now we will!"  
  
Heero exchanged a glance with Arthur, and they both sent their weapons flying down the alleyway to land at the bottom of the shield. "Hands on your head! You too, traitor," the soldier said to Michael, who also placed his hands on his head. "Face away from us so we can see your hands, and link the fingers," the soldier added. When they did so, he deactivated the shield and they both walked forward, guns held ready.   
  
Rina's first instinct was draw her gun and shoot them, but if there was one group of soldiers here, there might be more nearby, and the sound of gunfire would almost certainly bring them running. She wished now that she had kept one of the dart-guns, which only made a whooshing noise of released air pressure when fired. Too late now. Going to have to do this the silent way. Rina pulled a mask over her face - they couldn't see her. At least she had worn pants - her body was underdeveloped enough that she might be taken for a boy, if anyone saw her. But she didn't intend to let that happen. She pulled a small flare out of her pocket, set the fuse to one second, and tossed it in the air. There was a flash of incredibly bright white light, which caused the soldiers to turn, then momentarily blinded them.   
  
In that moment, Rina leaped down from the top of the building, hoping her newly healed leg would be up to this. Feet-first she hit the first one in the chest, and she definitely heard bones crack as he went flying backwards. Then she landed on her feet and immediately attacked the second one, who tried to shoot her, but the dart went wide, and her kick hit him right below the ear, and he dropped to the ground, unconscious. By then the first was trying to get back up, despite broken ribs and a host of internal injuries. As he brought his gun up, Heero turned around grabbed the man's head, and with one swift movement broke his neck. He let go of the body and it dropped to the ground.  
  
"Good move, but you would have done better to kill him with the first strike," Heero said dispassionately. Rina only nodded, not letting Michael hear her voice - bad enough that he had seen her body, which was undoubtedly that of a kid.   
  
"Who's he?" Michael asked, nodding in her direction. No one answered, at least, neither Heero nor Arthur answered.  
  
"Yes, who is he?" asked a taunting voice from the end of the alley. Rina spun, reaching for her gun, but even as her fingers closed on it, she saw the barrel of another gun pointed directly at her. "Freeze, kid." Rina instantly recognized Five... Kan, they'd called him, at the end of the gun, and the other boy, Two/Herc, standing beside him, pointing his gun at the others. Herc was the one who had spoken. "Hands on your head. That goes for all of you."   
  
Angry at herself for getting caught, even angrier for thinking that she was invincible just because she'd managed to catch the other two, Rina placed her hands on her head, lacing her fingers together. "So, who is he?" Kan asked. No one responded. Rina glanced at the three boys standing behind her. There was no expression on any of their faces, and except for their slow, even breathing, they might have been statues. It suddenly occurred to her that this was the first time the six of them had been together since they had been created. Some reunion. "Take the mask off," Kan instructed. Rina didn't move. "I'm not asking you again. Take off the mask or I'll break every bone in your hand."  
Rina doubted he could do that - her bones were as strong as his were - but she had no intention of letting him know that. Besides, they already suspected her, Rina Krace. She couldn't let them escape knowing who she really was, though, and she couldn't allow herself to be captured. She pulled off her mask.   
  
"A girl?!" Herc exclaimed in surprise and disgust.  
  
"Wait, I know her," Kan said with a frown. "She's Rina Krace, the ambassador's daughter." He gave her a feral smile, one that would have been better suited to some large cat. "Is she the one who turned you all into traitors?" he directed his question at the others. "Or was it the Phoenix himself?"  
  
"Kan, you don't know what you're doing..." Arthur began in a low tone.  
  
"Shut up, you weakling!" Kan snapped. Then he fired a dart at Rina. It hit her in the stomach, and, taking her cue from the soldiers, Rina immediately collapsed. She remained completely awake and aware, though, of the conversation that continued above her. She concentrated on footsteps. Kan had been out of her reach when he shot her, and Herc had been even farther away. The drug he'd shot her with slowed her reflexes slightly, made it difficult to breath, but she could still move. He needed to be closer - she'd only have one shot at this...  
  
"Some things should not be discussed in front of outsiders," Kan said in a superior tone.   
  
"You have no idea what you're talking about," Heero said in a low voice.  
  
"You think we're going to listen to a bunch of traitors?" Herc asked. "And you, Three, you're even worse than they are. At least they have brainwashing as an excuse. Why did you do it?"  
  
"Because the Alliance tried to kill Heero before they knew if he was a traitor. They would have killed him no matter what he did." Michael's voice was as low as Heero's but it had a melodious quality to it.   
  
"Is that true, Heero?" Herc asked, sounding a little uncertain.  
  
"It's true. They betrayed me long before I betrayed them."  
  
"Don't listen to them!" Kan exclaimed, sounding disgusted. "They'll say anything to try to trick us. It won't work." Rina heard a foot crunching on the dirt right in front of her face. Now or never...  
  
With a motion that no true human would be able to duplicate, Rina raised her body just far enough off the ground to give herself some leverage, then opened her eyes and swept her leg out, catching both of Kan's legs and dumping him on the ground. As he fell she grabbed the dart gun and forcefully pulled it out of his hands. As soon as she had control of it, she fired four darts at Herc. The first hit his shoulder, then the second missed as he started to move, but the third and fourth caught him in the side and he dropped to the ground, unconscious. Rina was still lying on her side, but she'd managed to get her legs around so one was on top of Kan's neck, pushing against his windpipe. There was one dart left in the gun, and she shot it into him, but knew that it wouldn't stop him. And the effect of the drugs in her system was growing more pronounced as she tried to move.   
  
Kan managed to shove her leg aside and rolled to his feet, a little more slowly than usual. He was also fighting the effects of the drug. With a look of pure hatred on his face he lunged at her. Rina tensed for the impact his foot was going to make on her face, but before he reached her, he collapsed on the ground. Behind him Rina saw Michael holding the dart gun Herc had dropped. She managed to get up on one knee, watching him intently. Was he really serious about turning against the Alliance on his own, or had it been an elaborate trick? He held the gun on her for a moment, then let it fall to the ground, and raised his hands again. "I already surrendered. Do I have to do it again?"  
  
Relief washed over Rina as she stumbled to her feet. "No, thank you." As Heero picked up the gun Michael had dropped, and Arthur moved to pick up the guns they'd thrown away, Michael just stared at her. She had a feeling he had already guessed the truth.   
  
"We're taking them with us," Heero said. It wasn't a question.   
  
"Yeah, I know. I've got to signal the car. They can be here in under three minutes." Rina took a step towards the street, where she'd seen a payphone, but her left leg gave out from under her, and she collapsed to the pavement.  
  
"Are you all right?" Arthur asked, running over.  
  
"It's the drugs," Heero said. "They work more slowly, but they still work."  
  
Arthur put her arm around his shoulder and pulled her to her feet. "Come on. We'd better get you back before the drug makes you entirely unconscious."  
  
"Wait, what about..." Rina broke off as Michael bent and effortlessly swung Kan over his shoulder.   
  
He glanced at her, then at Heero, who followed suit with Herc.   
  
Arthur started moving towards the street again. Rina concentrated long enough to tan her skin and turn her hair black. She let her head fall against her chest then, trusting her hair to hide her face. Now that it was over, she trembled in relief. That was closer than she'd ever come to getting caught, to getting exposed, and it was closer than she ever wanted to get again.   
  
"Who do we call?"  
  
"Heero knows the number," Rina murmured, feeling herself start to drift off. "Tell them it's the bird, and give them our location. Don't expect an answer." And with that, she faded into oblivion.   
  
  
---------  
  
  
{{TRANSCRIPT OF DIALOGUE FROM BASE 231.8  
STATUS: SECURITY LEVEL 1  
DATE: 35.6.20  
TOPIC: DISAPPEARANCE OF TWO AND FIVE  
  
  
A: Well, now you've done it. You've lost them all. I'm surprised you're still alive.  
  
  
B: I'm not.  
  
  
A: Not what?  
  
  
B: Not surprised. I've taken steps to assure my safety in case such a situation should arise. I've collected particular information, about some of the things we do, and about Project Titan, and I've eliminated all others who possess that information, making myself the sole proprietor of that data. They can't eliminate me without losing the data as well.  
  
  
A: Well, that doesn't surprise me at all. It makes sense that a slimy creature like you would always think to protect your own behind first.  
  
  
B: Be careful who you call a slimy creature. Your situation is much more precarious than mine.  
  
  
A: I trust that our superiors will know who is truly to blame here. I have no fears.  
  
  
B: Is that so?  
  
  
A: So what do you intend to do about Project Titan, now that you've lost them all?  
  
  
B: I intend to capture them again, so I can find out what we did wrong. And I intend to capture the Phoenix. I want to meet the person who managed to turn them against me, before I put them in the chamber.  
  
  
A: And how do you intend to do all that? The only power, the only force you had within the Alliance was Project Titan.  
  
  
B: I have my methods.  
  
  
A: Sometimes you disgust me.  
  
  
B: Only sometimes, Major?}}  
  
  
----------  
  
  
When Rina woke up, she was lying in a bed in the home base. Mike was sitting beside her, a concerned expression on his face. Realizing where she was and remembering what had happened, Rina suddenly sat up. "What time is it?"  
  
"It's ten-thirty in the morning," he said; and anticipating her next question, he continued, "I've already had word sent to your father, and he's called the school. You're home sick with the flu."  
  
Rina relaxed slightly. "And the others? They're all here?"  
  
"Yeah. They've locked up Two and Five in two separate rooms, and last I heard, neither of them has woken up yet. They took Three to another room and they talked to him for hours. They finally left him alone a few hours ago. I think Heero bullied Trish into showing him the file on communication between the Rebels in the different colonies, the one she wanted to show to you. Arthur was here for a while, but then he left. I think he wants to talk to you."  
  
"I'll see him as soon as possible. Heero, too." Rina sat up and felt a throbbing in her head that she suspected had something to do with the drug. "Please get me some aspirin. After I see Arthur, you can tell people that I can start looking after things again. I've been neglecting my duties."  
  
"No one would begrudge you a few hours spent in another pursuit, also working against the Alliance, after all you've done," he said reprovingly for her even thinking that someone would.  
  
"No, but I would. I have a full day, now that I don't have to go to school, and I intend to make good use of it. As soon as I'm through with Arthur, start sending them in."  
  
"How do you feel?"  
  
Rina pulled the pillows behind her so she could lean back but remain sitting up. "My head feels like the entire Alliance army has been performing drills on top of it, and my hands and feet are a little numb and tingling. Other than that I'm fine. Thank you for asking."  
  
"I'll see about that aspirin, and about getting you some breakfast," he said, and stood up to leave.  
  
"Don't forget to start sending people in," she said warningly. It would be just like him to 'forget' to send them in, so that she could get some more rest. Sometimes he was more protective than her own father.   
  
As he walked out the door, Arthur walked in. He sat by the edge of the bed in the spot Mike had just vacated, looking uncomfortable. Finally he asked, "How are you feeling?"  
  
"I've been better, but I'll live. Mike said you were talking to Michael. What did he say?"  
  
"He wants to join us. He came to the decision on his own - no help from either of us. He said... he said that the reason he turned away in the first place was because of me. He didn't like them hurting me so much."  
  
Rina didn't know how to respond to that, so she remained silent.  
  
"Did you know why Michael picked his name? Because of Mike. He wanted to be more like him, because he remembered that I smiled more when Mike was around. It feels strange. I'm glad that Michael left the Alliance, but I feel guilty that it was my fault."  
  
"I think you should tell Mike about Michael. I think he'd appreciate it."  
  
"I think I will." Arthur fell silent for another minute. "You'll order that Michael be released?"  
  
"You're absolutely sure about him? A lot of people could die if what he knows gets out in the open."  
  
"I'm sure. They could never lie to me, even when they can control their heartbeats. He knows who you are, too."  
  
"Well, you'd have to be pretty dense not to know, when I got up after they shot me with the dart. No human could do that, and I don't think a fourteen-year-old girl would be able to jump off the roof like that. I'll order him released. Will you take care of him, show him around?"  
  
"Yes, of course. There was something else I wanted to ask you..."  
  
Here it comes, Rina thought. This is what he really wanted to ask me.  
  
"... I wanted to know if you could let me handle Herc and Kan?"  
  
Rina blinked. Whatever she had been expecting, this wasn't it. "You want to handle them?"  
  
"Yes, I mean... I want to show them the truth, like you did, only..." he trailed off.  
  
"Only not quite the way I did. Maybe with a little less shouting, attacking and pain?" Rina finished for him, and he nodded, looking embarrassed.   
  
"I appreciate what you did for me, but I'd like to spare them that, if I can. I've known them all my life - I know them as well as anyone - I think I can do it. Heero has also offered to help, and I know Michael will, too."  
  
"Yes! Of course," Rina said, wishing she wasn't so glad to be able to hand off that duty to someone else, even if he did ask for it. Dealing with them was more tiring, both emotionally and physically, than anything else she had done for the colonies so far. And it was true that Arthur could probably bring them around more gently than Rina had. "Take as long as you need, and if you ever need something, just ask." That was something else she hadn't been able to buy - more time to deal with them. A few minutes, a few hours each day wasn't enough, and she'd had to hurry. She couldn't afford to hold them for months, the weeks it had taken were bad enough. They had been a drain on the Rebels' resources, to keep them contained, and a drain on her own time and energy. But Arthur could do better, she was sure of it.  
  
"Thank you!" he exclaimed, a joyous expression on his young face. It was so easy, looking at the large eyes, the slender frame, to imagine that he really was a normal boy, excited over something as stupid as a win in a sports game or something else. She wondered how often she looked that way to other people. The path not taken.  
  
"Thank you. I was not looking forward to dealing with Kan."  
  
Arthur's smile faded, and he looked pensive. "The commanders always liked Kan - they said he had the right attitude. He... enjoys his work. Not the killing, just doing a good job. But if the killing is part of it, he has fun with that, too. But he's not a bad person," Arthur quickly assured her.  
  
Rina nodded, although she entertained doubts of her own. "Just let me know before you release him."  
  
"I will. Herc, too. You'll like him, when he's not trying to capture you. He just likes to have fun all the time. The commanders used to punish him sometimes, for not concentrating enough."  
  
Rina nodded again, thinking that he sounded a lot like a normal boy to her. That is, if one ignored the fact that he was a trained killer who had just tried to capture her, and that he wasn't entirely human. But there were differences between the boys, as was already demonstrated by Heero and Arthur. Michael was different, too - it must have taken a lot of guts to go against everything he'd been taught because of his own knowledge. And Arthur said the other two boys were different, as well. It brought Rina a sense of satisfaction to know that even the Alliance hadn't been able to stamp out all traces of humanity in them.  
  
They both turned their heads as they heard steps in the hallway. Heero walked through the doorway, carrying a glass of water and a couple of bottles. He tossed the first bottle to her, a casual toss, but it flew so fast at her head that she could barely get her hand up to catch it in time. "Mike sent you that," he said. Rina opened the aspirin bottle and pressed one of the tabs to her forehead. She sighed in relief as the pain almost immediately died down. She'd read somewhere that in the old days many years before the colonies, aspirin used to come in a pill you had to swallow, and that it took a long time to take effect. She wasn't sure if she believed the story - what good was a pain reliever that didn't immediately remove pain?  
  
"He also sent you this," Heero said, and threw the other bottle at her head. Rina immediately recognized her pills - she usually took one in the morning, but she'd been asleep, so she'd missed her regular dosing schedule. "What are they?"  
  
"Just a nutrient supplement. I don't always eat regularly, and this helps me stay healthy, on top of my game. Even we get sick without enough food," she said with a meaningful glance at Arthur. "It's just like Mike to mother me like that." She took the glass from Heero and swallowed one of the pills. "Arthur wants to take charge of the other two." She left the end of the statement open, so that he could fill in anything he liked.  
  
"Michael and I will help him. This may take a long time, much longer than me or Arthur. They think they've been betrayed, and they won't forgive us for that."  
  
"Take as long as you need."  
  
"What else do you want us to do? You didn't ask us to become Rebels just so that we could only help each other."  
  
"Stay here," Rina said. "Mike will be sending everyone in soon. It's all business that I have to take care of, but maybe you can help with some of it." Just then the door opened and someone came in, carrying a plate of food in one hand and a pile of papers in the other. Rina held back a sigh, telling herself that now was not the time to feel sorry for herself. She'd known what she was getting into when she became the Phoenix.  
  
  
  
  
Well, now we've accounted for all of the boys, although I doubt that Kan and Herc are going to be happy with the situation. It always struck me as strange that Michael would be the one to break free on his own.  
Marika 


	13. Part 12

A week passed, then two, and she heard nothing from any of the boys about the two prisoners. Heero and Michael both helped with duties that she had always performed herself, some mathematical calculations only she could do in the absence of huge computers the Rebels couldn't afford, breaking into the Alliance's computer to find out what they were doing; breaking codes, investigating new members of the Rebels, to make sure there were no traitors present. The only reason that the Rebels had survived as long as they had was due to the absolute loyalty of everyone involved. In the fifty years since the Alliance first came, the numbers of Rebels had grown slowly, so slowly that at first the Alliance hadn't noticed them. In the last ten years, though, the Alliance had taken notice, especially since Mike defected. When Rina joined the Rebels, there were dozens of Alliance agents within the Rebels. Rina had practice finding loyalty in those around her - all of those in her father's household had strong reason to hate the Alliance. If she hadn't found them they most likely would have joined the Rebels, given time. Oh, yes, she knew a lot about loyalty, which was why the infestation of Alliance agents within the Rebels had troubled her so much. She had searched them out and either eliminated them herself or had them eliminated, once she had more power. One of those traitors had been the first person she had ever killed...   
  
When she'd first started this assignment she'd set for herself, she'd read up on some rather strange books about reading people's intentions through their body language. None of the Rebels, except Mike, thought much about her, even though she'd been the one giving them information for the last few years. They looked at her as nothing more than a strange kid. None of them knew just how strange she was. But then, how could they? They hadn't seen her get up and walk away after being hit by a car.  
  
She'd been looking through the lists of Rebels... they hadn't given her access yet, but they also couldn't keep her out of the system. And now she'd noticed something odd about one of the Rebels - a man named George. There was nothing special about him - he was just a lower-level Rebel, didn't have much useful access, hadn't shown any real initiative, but something... His background didn't fit. He said that in a sweep, his wife had been taken by the Alliance for no reason he could think of. Then there was an accident while she was in Interrogation, and both she and their unborn child died. Rina had seen a tape of him revealing this information, the anger in his voice seemed real, as did the tears in his eyes, tears that he bravely tried to hide. But his body language didn't fit the story he told. She doubted he'd ever had a wife at all, and therefore the reason for his hatred of the Alliance wasn't valid. So what was he doing here?  
  
He was a spy. She knew it, had known it for several days. He had something implanted in his hand, some kind of recording device that he activated by pressing his middle and little finger against certain points in his palm - she'd seen him do it, only during the few meetings with higher Rebels that he attended. She'd tried to tell this to the other Rebels, but no one except Mike believed her, and he only shrugged helplessly, saying that he believed her but there was nothing he could do about it. So she went into the Alliance computer and pulled his files from their database. She presented them to the Rebels, but they didn't believe the files were genuine. They were aware of how good she was at making fake files - now they wouldn't believe her.   
  
Rina was tempted to just leave the Rebels to fend for themselves, to get mired down by the traitors within their own organization until the Alliance crushed them, but nothing was ever that simple. For one thing, the Rebels really were needed - someone had to resist the Alliance. Also, the only reason she'd been so effective so far was because the Rebels did all of the real work for her - she'd be pathetically ineffective by herself. She could still get stuff done, but it was nothing like what she could accomplish now. Another reason was that they were decent people, most of them - it wasn't their fault that they couldn't trust a ten-year-old. And there was yet another reason she couldn't just leave - George had seen her, and had probably heard the rumors that she was their mysterious source, who fed them information about the Alliance. He probably didn't believe them, but that wouldn't stop him from reporting her presence, and then the Alliance would look into her background, realize what orphanage she was adopted from, and her secret was out.  
  
She didn't think that he had contacted his superiors since she'd arrived, but her time had to be running short. She had to stop him before then. So she faked an order from the Rebels' leaders and sent it to his quarters, ordering him to a particular alley in a bad part of Alpha. The area had only sprung up after the Alliance arrived - it held the people that they didn't want contaminating most of the colony, the people who might mess up their perfect image. The Rebels got a lot of supporters from that region. George thought he was being sent to pick up some orders from another Rebel base - he was probably excited about the prospect of getting access to such orders.   
  
A shudder ran up and down her spine as she made preparations. He had to die. If she did anything else, he would eventually make it back to the Alliance and inform on her. Alpha was big enough that she might be able to hide for a while - it was, after all, the size of a small country, almost entirely city; but it was only a matter of time until they tracked her down. Rina tried to control her shaking hands as she strapped a knife to her ankle, another to her waist, and tucked her gun into the back of her pants. She pulled on a large overcoat, three sizes too big for her and better suited in style for a boy. She pulled her hair up and hid it under a hat, and she smudged her face with dirt.   
  
The region of the city that she was heading towards was one that no sane girl would ever head into, not on purpose, and it would be hard to go there by accident. The lines that separated it were clearly marked, not by white lines on the pavement, although that might have been more discreet. At the boundary of the region, the buildings suddenly changed. The buildings were covered in grime despite the cleanliness of the rest of the dome. The cleaning crews that were supposed to take care of this area had been dismissed by the Alliance when the locals started harboring people with Rebel sympathies decades earlier. So the grime from everyday activities built up until they looked like they'd all been painted various shades of dark brown, as opposed to the gray buildings found everywhere else. So the separation was clear. The people in this region had been basically abandoned by the Alliance - they received no food, no water... When the sanctions were first ordered, there were protests, and the Alliance had arrested one member of every household to ensure obedience. After that people shut up or moved out of the region, if they could. Now the region held less than one-eighth of its original inhabitants, and these survived because of the generosity of a few charity groups in better parts of the dome. The Rebels provided discreet aid to the inhabitants, and got a lot of new members from there, mostly in thanks. The Alliance was aware of this, although not of the numbers involved, and ran frequent sweeps to discourage 'troublemakers'. So in addition to the lack of food, constant filth, and danger from diseases that had been eliminated in civilized societies for generations, the inhabitants lived in constant fear of arrest and imprisonment or execution. The Alliance had been known to do the latter with no evidence, killing entire families as examples. Rina didn't know how the majority of the dome could remain unaware of the conditions here - maybe they just didn't want to see the problems. It was to an abandoned part of that region that she was headed.  
  
No one noticed her as she slipped out of the Rebel base they had brought her to. They hadn't shown her any others yet, as if she was a security risk. As if she didn't know where they were already. She walked all the way to the alley where he would be waiting. She didn't want to risk taking a cab - kids didn't travel alone into that area of the colony, unless they lived there, in which case they didn't have the money to take a cab. She would be too memorable, so she walked nearly eight klicks by herself, always alert for a mugger or worse. But she had chosen her disguise well, and the book on body language had taught her more than just how to tell when people were lying. They had told her how to look at the different body language of people from different regions, and how to copy it so that she fit in. She didn't have any trouble on the walk. He was there when she arrived.  
  
"Get out of here, kid," he said, thrusting a hand at her. He was also dressed for moving around in this region.   
  
Her hand still trembling, Rina pulled the gun out from under her coat and aimed it at him. Pull the trigger, she told herself. He has to die. But her hands wouldn't seem to obey her brain - she just stood there with the gun aimed at him, not able to move. After a while he said, "If this is a robbery, kid, you're not going about it the right way."  
  
"It's not a robbery," she said, her voice shaky.  
  
"Hey, you're a girl!" he exclaimed, and stared at her more closely. "You're that kid from back at the... base," he said, dropping his voice in case someone was around to hear. There wasn't - Rina had checked that out, first. This region of the city was mostly deserted, because the Alliance made several raids around here a few weeks ago. "What the hell are you doing here?"  
  
"I've come to kill you before you can betray us to the Alliance," she said. Pull the damn trigger!  
  
"What? I don't know what you've been eating, kid, but I'd stop it. You know who I am. I'm here on assignment, right now. Get away before you scare away my contact!"  
  
"There was no mission. I sent those orders to get you out here, alone."  
  
"You what?! You little bitch!" He started to lunge for her, but a slight motion from the gun gave him pause. Just pull the trigger. Her fingers still refused to obey her mind, and her father's words, spoken sometime in the past, came back to her. Murder is murder, no matter how justified. And the ends do not necessarily justify the means.  
  
Rina realized that in bringing this man here to kill him, she'd gone around the Rebels, disobeying them and committing murder in order to protect them. Did the ends justify the means?  
  
He saw the gun waver in her fingers, and took a step forward. "Don't move!" she ordered, then held back a wince, realizing how stupid that sounded.  
  
He caught it, too. "Or what? You'll shoot me? I thought you were going to kill me anyway, little girl." He took another step forward, arm outstretched. "Come on, just give me the gun, and I might forget that I ever saw you with the Rebels. I'm not afraid of you - you're just a kid. You don't have it in you."  
  
With the Rebels. The words stuck in her mind. He spoke of them as an outsider. He was a spy. Rina's determination returned. "I'm not a kid," she told him.  
  
"Oh, really? Why is that?" he asked, and leaped at her. By then he was very close, and one of his grasping hands hit the gun, shoving it aside. His other hand went for her throat, but his sudden action shocked her out of her paralysis. She jumped back before he could grab her throat, and slammed her foot into his stomach, not bothering to ration her strength. The impact sent him flying into one of the walls, and his head hit the wall and stunned him, for a second. Before her resolution could fail, Rina raised the gun and fired a bullet into him. The silencer on the gun made the shot almost inaudible, except to her ears.   
  
She'd aimed badly. The bullet had missed his heart, passed through one of his lungs. It took several minutes for her to realize that the wound might not be fatal, not for hours. The thought made her want to throw up. I've got to end this, she thought, and walked up to him, still holding the gun in her hands. He was laying on the ground, and as she stood beside him, he looked up at her with anger, disbelief, and accusation in his eyes. She could almost hear his thoughts, How could a mere child do this to me?  
  
A sudden change came over her, as if all of her emotions were shut off, leaving nothing but her intellect and the job she had to do. "This is why," she told him, and fired one shot into his head, killing him instantly. She stared at the body for a second, then hid the gun and pulled out her knife. I have to finish all of this...  
  
Rina started and pulled out of the memory. Damn the doctors that had done this to her! Thanks to their genetic meddling, she experienced some memories as if they were actual events, reliving them over and over and over again. And it was always the worst memories that replayed the most often, the most vividly. Sometimes, like now, she was able to pull out of them before they were over, but that always left her with a sense of something unfinished, and it ensured that the memory would return in the next few days. Might as well get it over with now, she thought, and let the memory play out...  
  
The emotional block lasted for several hours, long enough for her to complete her business and return to the Rebel base. She walked in on one of their planning meetings and tossed the bloody recording device on the table. "Girl! What the hell are you doing? What is that?" someone demanded.  
  
"It's the recording device George had hidden in his hand, the one he was going to give to the Alliance. Scan it, there are several recordings with your voices on it."  
  
No one moved towards the bloody object. Finally Mike asked, "Where did you get this?"  
  
Rina stared at him coldly. "I told you. It was in his hand."  
  
Someone put their hand to their mouth and rushed out of the room.  
  
"You dug it out of his hand?" Mike asked, turning pale himself.  
  
Rina nodded. "After I killed him, I dug it out. The Alliance will get nothing from him now, even if they find the body, which I doubt they will." She cast one look around the table, seeing the disbelief and horror on the faces all around her. "I suggest you scan everyone's hands for these. You might catch some more traitors that way."  
  
The remaining Rebels stared at her in varying degrees of shock, with horror and disgust evident on all of their faces. She realized then that they'd never really accepted what she was, even when she revealed herself, they continued to think that she was human. They wouldn't make that mistake again - she'd truly revealed herself now, and she doubted that they would ever look at her the same way again. Hopefully that meant that next time they'd listen to her.  
  
After that meeting, she'd returned home and she snuck into the house. She immediately went upstairs to take a bath. She'd cleaned the blood off her hands and clothes, but she couldn't rid herself of the feeling that her hands were still covered with his sticky blood. She took a bath, and got ready to go to bed. Normally she stayed up until early in the morning, raiding the Alliance's computer, but today's activities had tired her out. It wasn't until she was lying in her bed, ready to go to sleep, that the emotional block, if that's what it was, disappeared. I've killed a man. Sobs shook her young body as she tried to deal with what had just happened. Her father heard her and came into the room.  
  
"What's happened?!" he exclaimed, alarmed.  
  
His presence was enough to make her get control of herself. She didn't answer for a minute, then said in an emotionless voice, "I killed a man today."  
  
"You what?!" The horror in his voice was enough to make her start crying again.   
"In God's name, why?"  
  
"He was a traitor," she explained between her sobs. She realized now that in some ways she had remained very young, until today. "He was going to turn over information to the Alliance about the Rebels, and about me, too. He had to die, so I tricked him into the Bad Sector, and I killed him. I even got the recorder, so the Alliance won't find it. I did what I had to do," she said, her voice strengthening slightly. "He could have caused many deaths, could have destroyed an entire cell of the Rebels. And he knew who I am. I had to do it." Her crying was over now, but she sat for a long time in her father's arms.  
  
He stroked her head, a gesture meant to reassure a child, but she didn't resist. He even rocked her back and forth a little, like she was a baby, until she fell asleep. She clearly remembered him saying, over and over again, "My daughter. My poor little girl."  
  
The memory ended, and Rina 's mind returned to the present. That was the last time he called me 'his little girl', she remembered suddenly.   
  
Why do the worst memories always come back the strongest? Rina didn't know, probably would never know, because she'd never told anyone about the memories, not even Mike or her father, the two people in the world who knew her best.   
  
Well, the two people I trust the most, at any rate. There was no doubt that all five of the boys knew her almost as well as she knew herself. It was a very discomforting thought, that she was enough like them that she could empathize and understand a killer like Kan.   
  
Rina shook her head. It was a stupid thought - Kan, like the rest of them, was exactly what they had twisted him into. Just because he seemed worse than the others didn't mean he was - he was just more outspoken about it. She was always in a brooding mood after one of those damned memory-lapses. They were coming more often, now. Was that simply because she was getting older, or because of what was coming? Avert. She turned her mind away from that thought. Now was not the time to think about that, she had work to do, and she had plenty of time to think about it. She would think about it late at night, after her work was done, when she was supposed to be sleeping. There were far too many hours she had spent that way.  
  
Rina went back to studying the political situation on Earth. They were isolated out here in the colonies, but there was some communication, and every bit of information was vital. Earth was the home of the Alliance and their base of support, but there were Rebels there, as well. Rina did the best she could to aide them, to get them public support as she had in the colonies, but it was very difficult with the limited contact, and very frustrating. She was glad of the interruption when someone knocked on the door of her office. Arthur stuck his head in, then his body followed. "Hello."  
  
"Hi," Rina replied, turning away from the computer with a sense of profound relief. "How's it going?"  
  
"Herc is frustrated, angry... but I think we may be getting somewhere. It's hard for him to ignore all of us."  
  
Rina nodded. "And Kan?"  
  
"That's what I wanted to talk to you about. Kan has stopped talking to any of us. He refuses to speak to anyone except the Phoenix."  
  
"He wants a shot at me," Rina observed.  
  
"He doesn't know who you are, yet," Arthur said.  
  
"What? How couldn't he?"  
  
"Sometimes Kan lets his anger cloud his reasoning," Arthur said matter-of-factly. If anyone else had delivered that judgement, there would have been a frown of disapproval, or maybe a smirk at his weakness. Arthur... either he really didn't feel any of those things, or he concealed it so well that Rina couldn't tell the difference. She didn't really want to know the truth. I want to keep on believing that at least one of us has some innocence left. It makes me feel like maybe there's still something in me.  
  
"So what do you want to do?"  
  
"I want you to meet with him, tell him the truth, the way you did with me and Heero. He hasn't seen the color change yet, either."  
  
"Why haven't you told him?" Rina asked, surprised.  
  
Arthur shrugged. "I have my reasons. Will you do it?"  
  
"Arthur, are you sure you want me to do this? It will be the same as it was for you - I won't soften it at all."  
  
"Yes."  
  
"All right. I will. But not now, not in the mood I'm in."  
  
"No, I want you to do this right now."  
  
"Trust me, you don't."  
  
"Yes, I do. He needs a shock, and badly."  
  
Rina stared at him, suddenly realizing that she was being manipulated. He had waited until now to come to her precisely because he knew that she was in a bad mood. For some reason he wanted this to turn into a huge fiasco, as she knew it would. Rina decided she didn't like being used this way, but held back her tongue. He must have a reason for it, she told herself. Just like I always have a reason when I do it. It's just that most of the people I manipulate don't realize what's happening. Or do they, and they humor me by not telling me, the way I won't tell Arthur? An interesting and disturbing thought, but not her business right now. "He'll go after me physically, right?"  
  
"Probably. I'll be with you to control him."  
  
"Since when do I need protection from anyone?" she asked, and got the satisfaction of seeing him blush. "You want me to hammer the truth into his head? I think being beaten by a girl will do that for him."  
  
Arthur tried to hide a wince, probably at the thought of a physical confrontation between her and Kan, and failed. "Yes, that will probably do it."  
  
  
---------  
  
  
Kan was sitting on the mattress, staring into space, much the way Heero had at first. His eyes didn't move from the far wall, but she knew he'd seen them enter.   
  
"Why do you bring this girl?" he asked, sounding as if it was a great effort to speak each word. "I will speak to none but the Phoenix."  
  
No time like the present. "You fool," Rina said scornfully. "You really don't know, do you?"  
  
That got his attention, and he actually turned his head to look at her. "What did you say?" he asked in a low, flat tone, with the barest hint of anger in it.   
  
"I said that you are a fool. Both Michael and Herc saw it."  
  
"Saw what?" he said, resuming his previous position, his tone making it clear that he didn't care what she had to say. Too clear. He meant for me to catch that.  
  
"You still don't see it," she said, bending down closer to him but still well out of his reach. "You asked to talk to the Phoenix. Here I am, and you don't even realize it."  
  
He actually laughed, a little. "Do you think I am truly stupid?! The Phoenix is a warrior, a brilliant tactician. You're a schoolgirl." His tone was scornful.   
  
Rina was at once amazed and disgusted by his attitude, and a little admiring that he managed to keep his voice like that even in this situation. "Arthur," she said, making sure he heard the amusement in her voice. "Tell him who I am."  
  
"It's true, she's the Phoenix," Arthur said in that simple, innocent tone that was so deceiving.   
  
Kan flicked an eye at them. "You lie. If she truly was the Phoenix, she would have no need of your protection."   
  
He's planning on attacking me, no doubt, but he still doesn't believe that I'm the Phoenix. Why? In a flash of insight, she realized his motives. He just wants to get back at me for capturing him! she thought, amazed. Arthur had been right, he really was letting anger cloud his judgement, otherwise he would have realized who - and what - she was long ago. Time to snap him out of that as well.  
  
"Arthur," she said, careful to keep derisive amusement in her voice, "Leave. Don't come back until I call you."  
  
"But..." Arthur cut off his objection and meekly inclined his head. "Yes sir."  
  
Rina couldn't help but stare as he withdrew from the room. That was a new mannerism, one she'd never seen before. What did it mean? She turned her attention back to Kan. He was the danger here. There was no doubt in her mind that Arthur would disobey her orders to come back in if he saw she was in danger, but she couldn't afford to show weakness like that in front of Kan. "Still don't believe me, do you?"  
  
His only response was to attack. Even though she was prepared and waiting for it, the speed of it still caught her off-guard. Before she could react, he had slid across the floor and swept her feet out from under her. As her back hit the ground, Rina knew a moment of true fear. She had never thought, never expected that he would catch her off-guard like that. In that one moment, she realized that she really could die in here. Help was only a few seconds away, but she could still be dead before it got here. She couldn't die like this! It wasn't supposed to happen like this!  
  
All of that was pushed aside as the emotionless calm took over, and she was rolling out of the way as Kan's foot came down where her head had been. In a second she was back on her feet and attacking him. The speed and strength of her attack caught him momentarily off-guard, and she used that to her advantage. She landed two solid blows and a kick that knocked him into the wall before he managed to get his guard up. She smiled, letting her face show none of the fear she had felt a second earlier. "You are weak. Can't even manage to kill an unarmed girl, heh?"  
  
With a betrayed look on his face, he stared at her. "How?"  
  
"How? Oh, you should already know the answer to that," she said loftily. She resisted the urge to rub her legs - his kick had hurt! "Come on, you've had the same clues as the others. Why are you the only one who can't figure it out? You shot me with one of those darts, didn't you? And then I got up and shot you... and then you got up..."  
  
She saw him working his way through it, and noticed, when he narrowed his eyes to concentrate, that they were slightly slanted, like some of the races on Earth. Now why would they have done that? she wondered. Then she saw him realize the truth. "You're..."  
  
"The Phoenix," she finished for him with a smirk. "And your sister, in a way. I can't believe you didn't see it before. No regular human could have gotten up after getting shot by one of those darts, but I did."  
  
"You..."  
  
"The others were right when they said you allow anger to cloud your judgement," she said carelessly, as if she had just let that comment slip out. She saw anger in his eyes. "And this isn't the first time you've failed to kill me."  
  
"What?!" he demanded harshly.   
  
"Oh, come on. Surely you remember the last mission? The one you failed at? When you were sent to murder Ambassador Krace? The man who adopted me?"  
  
"You?" he asked. "No, that's impossible! I saw an Earthling run from the roof, and I saw you a few minutes later..." he trailed off as she began to change colors.   
  
"Which Earthling was it?" she asked, turning her hair blond. "This one? Or maybe it was this one," she said, darkening both her skin and hair to a deep brown. "I use so many, it's hard to keep them straight. Oh, and that reminds me. I never got back at you for shooting me in the leg, did I?" She advanced on him threateningly, but he held his ground, then attacked her again. He hit her hard in the side several times and even punched her face before she disengaged. Better not try that again, she thought, feeling the sting on her cheek. He's faster than I am. "Good to know there's still some fight in you," she said condescendingly. "Now, what was it you wanted to ask the Phoenix?"  
  
"You..." he said again. This time the word started as a threat and ended as a question, an interesting combination. She wondered if he was capable of forming a complete sentence. He was badly shaken and for a moment she wondered if she had pushed too hard. No, she decided, observing the keen look in his eyes. He was shaken, but the core of him was untouched. This was just what Arthur wanted of me. Should I leave now, or press?  
  
The decision was taken out of her hands as a light flashed above the door, and Rina nodded at the cameras, giving permission for someone to enter. The door opened and Heero, Arthur, and Michael walked in. "I've finished the mission," Heero said to her, completely ignoring Kan, who had backed into a corner and remained there.   
  
Mission? Oh, yes, Heero had gone to one of the Alliance's munitions depots, to see how tight the security was. Smuggling in weapons from Earth was the only way to get them, since no weapons were produced on Centari, but it was an expensive and dangerous proposition. If they could steal the weapons from the Alliance, it would be a lot cheaper, and besides, they could deny their enemies the use of those weapons. Rina had wanted to make such a raid for years, but they'd never been able to get enough intel about the actual workings of the base to make it a justifiable risk. Although she wished the Alliance would make her life easier by putting everything they did on the main computer so she could access it, they rarely obeyed her wishes, and few projects or operations were as well documented as Project Titan.  
  
"I'll want your report immediately," Rina said with a nod to the others, and walked out of the room without a backward glance. Kan would feel that she had dismissed him as insignificant, too weak to be judged a threat. That's obviously what Arthur wanted - now he was going to try to pick up the pieces. Rina stopped outside the door when both Michael and Heero followed her. "Is it a good idea to leave Arthur alone with him?" she asked, jerking her head back towards the room.  
  
"Arthur can take care of himself," Heero replied. As always, he was expressionless. "Unlike you. That was one of the poorest displays of combat I've seen from one of us."  
  
That stung, and it irritated Rina that it did. "Really? Then what do you recommend for me to fix this weakness?" She didn't bother to try to hide her irritation, or to keep the acid out of her voice. Unconsciously she clenched her fists as she faced Heero across the hall.  
  
"Don't be too hard on her, Heero," Michael said in that soft voice of his. "It's not her fault."   
  
They both turned to stare at her. "How do you come to that conclusion?" Heero asked. "Her reaction time is as good as ours - they didn't design her any differently, so the fault must be with her."  
  
"She has had only humans to train against," Michael said, as if it should be obvious. "We trained against each other. We all have the same reaction speeds, so we've had to keep up with each other. She's had no one who could challenge her. Who could fight against her and tell her if she wasn't performing at her top efficiency?"  
  
"Well, how do you suggest I fix it?" Rina asked, interested by the analysis. She'd never thought that she'd be weaker like this because she didn't have anyone as strong as her.   
  
"Fight us."  
  
Rina held back a groan. Of course, the simplest solution was often the best. But that didn't mean she was going to enjoy it - she had a feeling Heero wouldn't hold anything back, even in practice, and of course, the others would probably follow his lead. Oh, this is going to be fun.  
  
  
  
  



	14. Part 13

It was another two weeks before Herc turned, and another six weeks after that before they finally got Kan to listen to reason. It was actually the Alliance that precipitated his defection, as usual. They ordered both him and Herc executed on sight. The same order had been given for the other three, but for some reason the Alliance had hesitated with the last two. The order both relieved and troubled Rina - relieved because she had been expecting it for some time and was glad that they had proved her right, and troubled because she didn't know why they had waited so long. As she had told Hiro earlier, their general policy was to shoot first and ask questions later. It seemed that someone at the Alliance had finally grown a brain stem, and that was cause for alarm.   
  
In the intervening weeks things had been going well. Her inner circle, the leaders among the Rebels were beginning to accept the boys. Heero's complete lack of emotion and the boys' deadly efficiency still made them rather uneasy, but Rina was confident that the Rebels would learn in time. After all, they'd learned to accept her - it couldn't possibly be as bad of a shock the second time around. They certainly weren't complaining about the results the boys had. They'd made a strike at the weapons depot, and had come away with a large supply of weapons and ammunition, and many less enemies among the Alliance. They also went on a number of solo missions, or with other Rebels, to strike at the Alliance. This Rina insisted on - they couldn't remain an independent group, separate from the Rebels - they had to become Rebels. That was the only way they would be listened to.   
  
With Heero and Michael's help, the Rebels managed to create a simulation of the chamber. Building one themselves would not only have been expensive and maybe impossible because of the space required, it would have been a waste since Rina would never allow anyone to question even Alliance soldiers that way. The idea of training the Rebels to resist that sort of torture had merit, so they created a simulator that fed impulses directly into the brain. If a person kept their eyes closed, they experienced the images, sounds, and feelings they would experience in the chamber without pause. All they had to do to leave the simulation was open their eyes. It was a good safety devise, and Rina was the first to try it. As soon as she closed her eyes, she saw lights flashing, and sound blared so loud that she actually clapped her hands to her ears in a vain attempt to shut it out. Through an act of will she kept her eyes closed for a full five minutes, experiencing the simulation.   
  
When she opened her eyes, Arthur stared at her, spasmodically clenching and unclenching his fists. His face was completely expressionless. She knew he had already tested the simulator, for accuracy. And they used to stick him in that thing for hours? Rina couldn't imagine how he had survived. She looked down at her hands and realized they were shaking, and then she realized that her entire body was trembling.  
  
She determinedly trained herself up to the level of the others, where she could stay in the simulation for well over an hour, and insisted that the other Rebels take their turns learning how to beat the device. None of the boys ever came near the thing.  
  
Arthur's 'weakness' caused no problems on any of his missions. He tended to leave more people alive, but it didn't seem to impair his efficiency. A few broken bones were usually sufficient to convince those in his way that they really didn't want to be in that position anymore. He also held several lectures, sharing what he knew about methods of interrogation, and especially how to resist the psychological aspects of it.  
  
Once he turned, Herc was the most interesting member of their group. Sometimes he really did seem like a normal kid, but then without warning he would cheerfully say something that shocked you back to reality. He really did seem to enjoy himself, though all of that cheerfulness disappeared from his face when the Alliance was mentioned. Arthur had told her that it was his, Michael's, and finally Hiro's arguments that convinced him that the Alliance might have been what they said it was. It wasn't as if all of them were shallow fools.  
  
Kan finally turned when the order came out for his execution. He'd been hovering for several days, and when the order finally came he came crashing down on the Rebel side. The first thing he did after they let him out was to prove his devotion by killing a large number of Alliance soldiers. His methodology was simple - he killed one of them, then stayed with the body and killed the soldiers who were sent to investigate. In that manner he killed well over three-dozen soldiers before the Alliance headquarters got smart and started sending the soldiers in groups of twelve. That number was too many even for Kan, and he returned to the base where he sat off by himself for a long time. Rina was hesitant to approach him - of all of them, he had been the only one who tried to fake turning, so that they would release him and he could return to the Alliance. Luckily Arthur's claim that he could always tell when the others were lying turned out to be true, or else there could have been real trouble. Even though Arthur had said he had truly turned this time, even though he'd obviously alienated himself beyond repair with the Alliance with the killings - which had to have been his purpose - Rina still had a hard time trusting him.  
  
There were no real problems, though, and he was also slowly integrated into the Rebels. He always had a slightly different way of looking at things, though. It was something that Rina didn't even begin to understand until several months later.  
  
--------------  
  
A few weeks after her fifteenth birthday - it was actually all of their birthdays - Rina saw Kan again. Things were different for her now - she was rediscovering what a joy and pleasure a little bit of free time for herself could be. There hadn't been any for so long... By then the boys had taken over most of the tactical problems and day-to-day running of this base, leaving Rina free to work on what she considered to be a much more important and interesting task - creating propaganda to put the Rebels in the best light, and to make the colonists hate the Alliance. It wasn't a very hard task - most of the colonists already hated the Alliance, and the only reason they had hated the Rebels so much was because of the crimes the Alliance had committed in their name. The tough thing was to get messages through to Earth, to sway the Earthlings. When it came down to it, the Earthlings were the only ones who had any power over the Alliance politically - it was important to get their support.   
  
She also started concentrating on how Refuge was governed, the people in charge. At some point, perhaps years from now, the Rebels were going to have to try to truly take over the colony, and when that happened, they needed skilled people to take over the day-to-day governing of the colony, to replace the Alliance's soldiers and bureaucrats whose loyalties definitely lay with Earth. Luckily, there were a number of exiled government workers among the refugees, people who'd protested the treatment of the colonies too strongly and who'd been thrown out of office by the Alliance. Rina started having meetings with them, to discuss what they could do if the Alliance fell in Alpha colony, how quickly and smoothly they could take over.  
  
The Rebels were preparing for a meeting, a huge one between the Rebels of this colony and the Rebels of other colonies, from all over Centari. It had taken months to arrange and plan, mostly because the Alliance severely restricted communication and movement between the colonies. But they'd managed, and the leaders of eight different Rebel groups would be arriving in the next week. All of them were as high in their respective organizations as she was, so she felt relatively safe meeting with them. Only the leaders would meet with her, and if one of them was captured, they knew enough about all of the organizations to destroy all of the Rebels, so it wouldn't matter if her secret was exposed. The chances of any of them getting caught were slim to none - they were all as well-guarded as she was, probably better because they didn't have alternate lives. She wondered what their reaction would be when she revealed herself, although she knew the most probable ones - outrage that the Phoenix would try to hide behind a child, then disbelief, then a sort of stunned shock followed by curiosity. Then they could possibly get some business done.   
  
Kan came looking for her late one night, just before she was about to head back to her home. "Miss Rina?" he asked hesitantly. It had been weeks before he stopped calling her 'Phoenix'. Then for a while it was 'Lady' as if it was some sort of title. He was getting closer to her name, though. One of these days she'd get him to call her 'Rina.'   
  
"Yes, Kan?" Rina asked, a little warily. She could never quite put herself at ease around him, no matter how much loyalty he showed to the Rebels. At some level she always looked at him as the Alliance agent who tried to kill her father and consequently shot her.   
"May I speak with you for a moment?"   
  
Rina sighed. Kan was always so formal in his speech, especially to her. "Sure, but I've got to be getting back to my house soon. I have to be there in the morning to go to school."  
  
"I understand." He seated himself in the other chair in the office and looked at her. "I've never thanked you for what you did for me. And I understand how difficult it is for you to be around me, the things that I make you remember." There was a hint of discomfort in his voice, which was probably as much of an apology as she would ever get for him having shot her. It was more, actually, than she would have gotten from Hiro under the same circumstances.   
  
Rina regarded him silently. She wouldn't demean them both by saying it was forgotten, because it wasn't. "Thank you," she said, wondering if that was all he had to say.  
  
"I do want to thank you," he continued. "I never did, but without you I still would have been working for the Alliance. They never dealt fairly with us. It wasn't... honorable."  
  
With that one word, Rina's understanding of Kan expanded exponentially. Honor... How would a boy like Kan, raised by the Alliance, have a concept of honor? Hiro certainly had none - there was no such thing as honor, he had once told her, only efficiency.   
"Where... did you learn about honor?" she asked.   
  
"One of the books I read was an ancient Earthling text on different methods of torture, from a region of Earth known as Japan. They described... a warrior's honor, that he is demeaned by only fighting against those who are weaker than he. I never thought that I would be able to achieve any honor, because everyone was weaker than me. Then I finally found an enemy who was not weaker than me. You were not, and I was defeated by you. But even when you defeated me, even when you were my enemy, you treated me with more respect, with more honesty and honor, than the Alliance ever did. That was why, once the Alliance truly turned its back on me, I wanted to join you. You have found without even trying something that I sought and failed to gain."  
  
Rina realized with some shock that he hadn't really joined the Rebels because he wanted to get revenge on the Alliance, or because he wanted to help the colonists. He had joined them because he was following her. The thought sent a shiver down her spine, but she forced herself to remain calm. "You've been with us for several months, now. What have you found?"  
  
He hesitated, then stiffened, his eyes pointing straight forward, not blinking. Rina recognized the posture - it was what all the boys did when they were being called on to give an official report. It made them sound like computers, but so far they still did it, no matter how uncomfortable it made them. The Alliance had spent a lot of time teaching them that mannerism, had hammered it in well. "Your concept of honor is different than any I've read about. Your strength stems not from the enemies you defeat or the battles you win, but from something else.'  
  
"Do you know what that something else is?" she asked softly. She had to make him understand that a battle fought for nothing more than honor was meaningless and worthless.   
He shook his head.  
  
"It's protecting people," she said, and his eyes opened wide with surprise, then understanding.   
  
"I see," he said slowly. "You gain strength from the knowledge that your fighting will protect lives. There is honor in that."  
  
"Yes, there is." Rina had never looked at it that way, but it was true. She'd never thought of herself as honorable - honor seemed like such a petty thing, useless in her work and meaningless to a person who was, for all intents and purposes, an assassin. Honor as she thought of it was a luxury - give a warning to your enemies before you strike, never stab someone in the back - that was for people who were already winning, who could afford to lose. Her situation was nothing like that: only, as Hiro said, efficiency was important. She had to kill her enemies by whatever means necessary. How could there be anything honorable about that? There was nothing heroic or beautiful in death, in walking up to someone and blowing their head apart.   
  
But she had limits. The Alliance had blown up schools, destroyed colonies with hundreds of men, women, and children inside, ordered the assassination of civilian targets in order to achieve their goals. These things she would not do, would not allow her subordinates to do. Once someone had taken the initiative and used a bomb to destroy the home of an Alliance officer, killing him, his family and his servants. That was never repeated. In her propaganda, Rina never resorted to outright lies the way the Alliance did. They only struck at military targets, and when they did strike against officers in their homes, they did it in a way so that there were no other casualties. Yes, she did have some sense of honor, even if it might be twisted beyond recognition. But Kan had seen it.   
  
Rina felt a wash of gratitude towards him. "Thank you."  
  
"For what?"  
  
"For explaining things to me."  
  
He smiled a little, and stood up. Then he actually executed a sort of half-bow to her, bending at the waist and inclining his head. "My pleasure, M'lady." His voice had abruptly changed to a different accent as he switched to a different form of address. His eyes sparkled with amusement, and she actually laughed a little at how ridiculous the situation seemed. Two people, products of an advanced technology, soldiers fighting a government with whatever means they had available to them, sitting around talking about an ancient concept of honor and bowing to each other. She stood up and bowed back.  
  
------------  
  
{{TRANSCRIPT OF DIALOGUE FROM BASE 001  
STATUS: SECURITY LEVEL 1  
DATE: 24.6.21  
TOPIC: ATTACK ON ALLIANCE BASE  
  
  
A: The identification has been confirmed by the security cameras. It was the subjects of Project Titan who led that Rebel raid on the armory two days ago.   
  
  
B: Why was I not notified immediately?!  
  
  
A: We were waiting for confirmation. I hope you're pleased with yourself, Director. Your creations are performing just the way you wanted them to. Here's the list of the dead and wounded.   
  
  
B: Impressive.  
  
  
A: Impressive?! I have another word for it! They've turned on you! Earth Command wants to know what you can do about it.  
  
  
B: Me? Nothing, I've been reassigned.   
  
  
A: What?!  
  
  
B: Once the subjects were taken from us, Project Titan ceased to exist. Until they are recaptured, I am not the Director of that project. I am currently assigned to Intelligence, interrogation division.  
  
  
A: I bet that suits you just fine. Now it really is your job to hurt people all day, now that you don't have Four to pick on anymore.  
  
  
B: If you're insinuating that my actions were for any other reason than to force it to perform to its specifications...  
  
  
A: I am. Your treatment of that boy, genetically engineered or otherwise, was nothing short of sadistic. There was no reason to do to him what you did - he never needed any 'encouragement' to be loyal to the Alliance, and your actions may very well have given the Rebels a way to win his confidence. I couldn't protest as long as they, and you, were completing your missions, but now that you've lost them, you can expect a full report from me to my superiors. I suspect that the only thing that's kept you alive so long is that you're so good at torturing people and getting information out of them. I wish it were otherwise, but I believe that you will continue to live, even though I've urged otherwise in the past and will do so now. But that will only last as long as you continue to be of use to the Alliance - I'd advise you to keep that in mind. Because once you aren't of any use, I will take personal pleasure in prying every secret you have out of your head, and I will use that chamber of yours to do it.  
  
  
B: You...  
  
  
A: Yes? Me what? You weren't going to threaten me, were you, Yirtz, because that's insubordination and I'll have you shot. That's within my power, you know.  
  
  
B: No sir. I wish you the best of luck capturing them, but it won't be easy.  
  
  
A: Is that a hint of satisfaction I hear in your voice? It better not be, because they're enemies of the Alliance now. The only good news about all of this is that I don't have to deal with you any more.  
  
  
B: And what do you mean by that?  
  
  
A: I was liaison between Earth Command and Project Titan. If Titan no longer exists, then I don't have to deal with you anymore, and that is entirely to my liking.  
  
  
B: What if I have data to transmit?  
  
  
A: Then you'll do it through normal channels and leave me alone.   
  
  
B: And if I recapture some of the subjects?  
  
  
A: I don't think there's a chance in hell of that happening. Good day and goodbye, Doctor.  
  
  
------------  
  
Rina took a deep breath and let it out. She was waiting for the leaders of the Rebels of the eight other major colonies to arrive. This was the first meeting of the Rebels from all over the planet ever, and it was a sign of how well she was doing against the Alliance that they'd chosen to have the meeting in Alpha. It had been a long and hazardous trip for the other leaders simply to get here, and now she was waiting in a large conference room she'd prepared specifically for them. Less than an hour ago she'd sent agents out to guide them here from the various places that they were staying all over the colony. Each leader had brought only a single aide to accompany them, and only those sixteen people would see her face. It was a risk, but no greater than ones she had taken already.   
  
"Calm yourself," Heero muttered.   
  
She glanced at him. "How did you know?"  
  
"That," he said, pointing at where she was nervously drumming her fingers on her own thigh.  
  
"Damn," she muttered, forcing herself to be absolutely still. Heero was acting as her aide until Mike could get here. He'd been held up by a 'demonstration' of the Alliance's power; it was a common enough occurrence where the Alliance marched a bunch of their soldiers out into the streets, rounded up anyone they could find, and explained to them why they were so much luckier to be under the control of the Alliance than free. At least he hadn't been caught in a sweep. Rina shuddered at the thought. That was why her top aides didn't travel the streets often. It was just too dangerous.   
  
She was planning on having the boys come in and speak, on the various parts of the Rebels' business that they were handling. There was no reason for her to limit herself to one aide, as long as she didn't make it seem as if she were trying to overwhelm her guests, which was why she'd chosen to start with just one.   
  
"That's a bad habit to get into."  
  
"I know. I've been trying to break myself of it for years." Rina clenched her hand in a fist. "This is not going to be fun."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"They won't believe I'm the Phoenix."  
  
"That's what that is for," Heero nodded his head towards the steel bar lying on the ground.   
  
"I know, it's just... Does it ever bother you, the way normal humans look at us sometimes?"  
  
"Sometimes," he admitted, surprising her. It wasn't like Heero to admit that something as transient as other people's opinions mattered to him. "I ignore it." Now that was more normal, for Heero.  
  
"Sure," she muttered. "Just ignore it."  
  
A light flashed on the com unit. "Phoenix, the other leaders are here."  
  
"All of them?"  
  
"Yes sir."  
  
"Then send them up."  
  
Heero took one step back from her chair, standing a few feet to the side, and raised his head into an attentive position, eyes fixed forward, face immobile. He might have well have been carved of stone, he stood so still. Even after all this time, he still did that whenever giving a report, and obviously at 'formal' occasions as well. Damn it. Seeing him like that reminded her of how far they had to go to rid the boys of the damage the Alliance had done to them, if it was possible to remove it at all. Arthur was much better, and they all seemed more at ease, but aside from Herc and occasionally Arthur, they rarely smiled and almost never laughed. They might be free, but they didn't act very human, at least not yet.  
  
Rina remained seated until the door opened and people started filing in. Then she got to her feet and stood at a rough approximation of Heero's discipline as the leaders filed in. Seven of them were male, and five of the aides were also male. It was clear that the Alliance wasn't the only one with prejudices about females. "Welcome to Alpha colony, and to our main base," she told them with a smile and a formal nod. "Please, take your seats."  
  
"What is this?" demanded Brenden Fraisen, the head of the Rebels in Bertin colony. "Who are you? Where is the Phoenix?" Some of the other heads used fake names, like herself, while others used their own names and simply never left their bases.   
  
"If you will permit me to explain, Mr. Fraisen," she said calmly. This was exactly what she'd expected. "I will explain everything."  
  
"I'd appreciate an explanation as to why the Phoenix is too cowardly to show his face after we went through all the danger of coming here," said another head, a young man who'd earned the nickname 'Snake' due to his ability to slip through traps the Alliance set for him. "And why he chooses to hide behind a child." There was deep disapproval in his voice.  
  
"As I just said, if you will permit me to explain, you will understand," Rina repeated, then picked up the steel. "There are a number of things that the Phoenix was not willing to discuss over lines of communication between the colonies. I have to protect my other identity, and any word of what I am about to tell you could have jeopardized that."  
  
"Your other identity?" asked the lone woman, known as the Demon in her own colony.  
  
"Wait a second," her aide said. "I recognize her. She's the daughter of the Alliance's ambassador!"  
  
"I assure you, my father holds no more allegiance to the Alliance than I do," Rina said before they could jump up to protest that. "He continues to hold his position in order to protect me."  
  
"Who are you?!"  
  
"I am the Phoenix."  
  
Vincent Gail let out a bark of laughter. "You? The Phoenix?"  
  
Rina held out the steel, then bent it between her palms. It screeched loudly as she bent it, and then tossed it onto the table in front of her. It thudded loudly on the table. There was a shocked silence, then Peter Grafton reached out and touched it. "God, that's solid steel." He stared at her. "All right girl, you have our attention. What's going on here?"  
  
"I am the Phoenix. I am the result of an experiment in genetic engineering, which has made me stronger, faster, and more intelligent than normal humans. I need very little sleep, and because of my apparent youth no one suspects me."  
  
They looked at her as if she'd just announced that she worked for the Alliance.  
  
"I'm sorry I was unable to tell you the truth before you arrived, but if any hint of what I am is heard by the Alliance, they would immediately be able to deduce my other identity."  
  
"And why is that?"  
  
"Because the Alliance created me."  
  
At that they did jump to their feet, several reaching for hidden weapons. "It's a trap!" someone yelled. An uncomfortable number of guns were pointed in her direction, and Rina had to force herself not to react. When, after several seconds, she made no move, they calmed down slightly.   
  
"I said I was created by the Alliance, not that I work for them. They were experimenting, trying to create the perfect solider. I wasn't what they wanted, however, so they got rid of me. I was adopted by the ambassador and was raised as a colonist. I soon realized that I was different, and started hacking into the Alliance's computer, trying to figure out what I was. When I found out, I joined the Rebels. Because of what I am, I soon became the Phoenix. I am responsible for the successes the Rebels have had here, and I wish to share what knowledge I have of the Alliance with you." There were a number of lies in there, but it was close enough to the truth for now. The entire truth would ensure that they'd never trust her or listen to her, and they didn't have time for that.  
  
They stared at her, and settled uneasily back down into their seats. "You hacked into the Alliance's computer?" asked Brenden's aide. "How? That should be impossible."  
  
"My reaction time is almost as good as a computer, otherwise it wouldn't be possible. I will, of course, open all of the files we've stolen from the Alliance for your observation." That was another lie, she wasn't going to show them the files on Project Titan. She had a feeling that Heero's past would cause more problems, and it had done plenty of that already.  
  
"And you are the Phoenix?"  
  
"Yes, I am."  
  
"For how long?"  
  
"Since I was twelve, but I've been with the Rebels two years longer than that."  
  
"And him?" the Snake asked, nodding towards Hiro.  
  
"He is a result of the same genetic engineering. He has extensive knowledge of Alliance training methods for their grunt soldiers, and if you allow it, will explain some of the fundamental weaknesses in that training that can be exploited in battle."  
  
"If we'll allow it?!" the Demon asked. "I was going to ask you myself. There were rumors, a few weeks back, that you had one person kill a few dozen foot soldiers. I was wondering how that was done."  
  
Rina hid a smile. The person they were talking about had to be Kan, but that technique wasn't going to work for normal humans. "I know of the incident, but that was another genetically engineered fighter. I doubt his methods would appeal to any normal human. But we have methods that do work, and would be glad to share them with you."  
  
------------  
  
"So you're saying that you can actually swing the public's view towards us with this?" Brenden asked doubtfully, while Rina firmly held onto her temper. Brenden was the oldest of the leaders, and the least likely to change his ways, no matter how much success she'd had against the Alliance. Despite all the evidence and the belief of the others, he still looked at her as a kid, just barely worthy of his notice. Herc had already completely lost patience with this old doubter, to the point where Rina didn't call him to meetings where Brenden would be present. He was irritating all of the boys, none of whom were very good at controlling the new emotions they were experiencing. Michael fell absolutely silent when faced with Brenden's obstinacy, Kan frowned furiously, and Arthur became expressionless, which he did only when he was very upset. With Heero, it was impossible to tell, but he didn't speak to Brenden unless he absolutely had to.   
  
"Yes, Brenden," Rina replied. In the last few days she'd started referring to them by their first names, to establish herself on equal footing with them. Some of the others used that familiarity, some didn't, but for her it was a necessity, otherwise she'd never get anywhere with Brenden and a few of the others. "I keep up a constant flow of the propaganda, and I have people in the media who will report for me. One of the keys is to beat the Alliance to the punch. When they commit atrocities and try to blame them on us, it's vital that our message - and the truth - gets out to the public first."  
  
"It's the only way we can fight them," Peter told Brenden, while Rina kept a patient expression on her face. Maybe Brenden would listen to someone besides her. "Besides, look at these numbers the Phoenix gave us. Once we start getting to the public first, and ruining their opportunity to hurt our image, the number of strikes decrease. It's a process that saves lives."  
  
Rina had already made these points. Numerous times. But this time, Brenden nodded, a frown on his face. "I can see that part, but the rest of this, the constant messages..." he frowned in distaste. "It seems like something the Alliance would do."  
  
Rina had already explained this as well, but she remained silent. Maybe he would listen to one of the others if they told them. This conference was turning out to be more frustrating than she ever could have dreamed. At least she'd reached a few of them on the points that were most important to her, public opinion and the methods by which they could trick the Alliance into sparing lives. A few others now had doubts about long-held prejudices concerning women, and that was good as well. But faced with Brenden's thick-headedness, she wondered how the Rebels in his colony had survived as long as they had. Adaptation had always been key to her survival - she was able to anticipate and react to changes faster than almost anyone, and that was the only reason that she'd survived and kept hidden as long as she had. But then, she tended to take many more risks then Brenden did, which exposed her more, but also hurt the Alliance more. It was all a matter of preference, but right now Brenden was close to driving her to distraction.  
  
A half-hour later the daily meeting broke up and the other leaders left to their rooms. Rina sat and stared at the empty room for several minutes, reviewing her plans. The Rebels had been here for four days, and had to leave in three more. For this week Rina had been living entirely on the base, having scheduled the meeting during a school vacation; her continual presence made it possible to hold late and early meetings, accommodating those who had traveled from colonies in different time zones. Despite all the time she spent in the Rebel bases, she rarely slept there, and was not comfortable in her room here. The ever-present security camera in the corner did nothing to improve her mood. She knew it was for her safety, and that there were people she trusted watching - actually tonight Herc was taking a turn, because he wasn't helping as much with the meetings as he'd like and felt guilty - but she was used to privacy as she slept, and so was uneasy. The entire situation was more trying than she'd thought it would be.   
  
So little time was left, and she still hadn't come to a decision regarding Refuge. Every person that knew about Refuge added to the danger, but there could be great benefits, as well. The sight of a place that the Alliance didn't control, a place that was in fact what all the Rebels were striving for could bring the other leaders hope, and give them ideas for their own domes. Or it might make them angry or jealous. Most she would have taken without hesitation, but Brenden and one or two others made her uneasy. Brenden was already obvious enough about the fact that he barely trusted her because of her tenuous relationship to the Alliance - she didn't want to push him too hard.  
  
After a while she gave it up and went back to her room. She could get some business finished before she went to sleep. Rina had barely gotten a third of the way through the file when there was a discreet knock at the door. Automatically she checked to see that her spare gun was handy, then called, "Who is it?"  
  
"It's the Snake."  
  
"Come in," Rina said, standing up and opening the door. Despite the unpleasant connotations connected with his name, Rina had found him to be a refreshing change from Brenden, and got along with him the best of all the others, perhaps because he was a young man, only twenty-five, and understood some of the problems she was having because of her age. He was not attractive physically - sort of mousy-looking, with a pointed nose and angular face, but it was the sort of face that wasn't at all memorable, which had to be an advantage for him. "What can I do for you?"  
  
"I came to get some answers."  
  
That immediately put her on guard. "What about?"  
  
"May I?" he asked, indicating the second chair, and Rina nodded permission, but didn't sit herself. The entire situation had just taken a dangerous turn. He watched her for a moment, but when it became clear that she wasn't going to sit, he continued, "Now I've known all along that you wouldn't be telling us everything. None of us would ever do that, and to expect the same out of you would be blatantly unfair. But still... there are a lot of questions that we would like to ask. You've told us so little about yourself, but the little we know is not reassuring."  
  
"We?" she asked, noting his phrasing.  
  
He inclined his head towards her, acknowledging her observation. "Myself, the Demon, Peter, and Vincent."  
  
"You're not including Brenden or the Judge," Rina said in a perfectly neutral voice. He'd just named the people she would take to Refuge if she could. Brenden and the Judge were the ones who she was afraid of upsetting.   
  
"Brenden's an old fool, long overdue to be replaced," the Snake said with considerable ferocity. "He's lost his edge, and the people in his colony are beginning to suffer for it. I don't know what the Judge's problem is, but I think he's resisting your ideas just out of stubbornness. At least Brenden's aide has some sense, but I don't know about the Judge's..."  
  
Rina nodded. "I agree, but there isn't much we can do about that situation. The only real areas in which those two differ from the rest of you is that they don't trust me and don't make any secret of it. I know that you trust me, and will listen to what I say, the same way I've been listening to you... That was all I ever intended this meeting to accomplish. What is the problem?"  
  
"Phoenix, you know that all of us - even Brenden - are very intelligent. Stupid or slow people don't survive against the Alliance, and they certainly don't raise to positions of power. You know that I am smarter than most, to rise so young," he said, truthfully but without any modesty. Now wasn't the time for false modesty, anyway. "But you..." he shook his head. "You're something else entirely. You're..."  
  
"Not human," she supplied with a sigh. "Inhuman is the term you're looking for."  
  
"That's what I'm here to determine. You can have my apologies in advance, but I always keep the welfare of my colony first in my mind. Your ideas seem good, but I won't steer my colony onto a course set by someone... or something... with no morality, no conscience. We already have the Alliance for that."  
  
Rina held herself motionless. His apology did nothing to soften the blow of the accusation. She'd thought that after all she'd shown them, everything she'd done for her colony, that they would at least believe that she had the people's interests first in mind. "Very well," she said without any expression on her face or emotion in her voice. She couldn't afford to show any weakness in a situation like this. Or... was that what he was looking for? Some hint of human weakness? Doubts? Would that convince him? Rina could feign all of those easily enough, but she'd already decided not to try to manipulate the other Rebels, who were allies. He'd have to be satisfied with logical answers to his questions.  
  
He had been studying her face. "Just give me some proof... anything... that tells me that you are more than some creation of the Alliance." At this she stiffened angrily - there was never any doubt in her mind that she was more than something the Alliance created. "Show me why I should pursue the tactics you've been teaching us."  
  
"You mean keeping people alive and freeing them isn't reason enough?" Rina asked, allowing some of her anger to show.  
  
"Not if it sacrifices our humanity in the process. Even beating the Alliance isn't worth losing our basic humanity. Once we begin to follow you, I believe it would be very difficult to stop, and I won't have you leading us away from what sets us apart from the Alliance."  
  
"And the others feel the same way?"  
  
"They do now. They would have followed you without question, as long as the ideas were good, which they are, but now they're waiting for my word."  
  
"You have to make this difficult, don't you?"  
  
"If you are truly human, if you really care for people, you should be glad that we aren't blind followers."  
  
"Unless I fail to convince you, not because I'm not human, but because there is no way of truly proving such a thing. Then I would not be glad, because what I've learned will go to waste in all the colonies because of your actions, instead of just yours," she reminded him.  
  
"So convince me," he said, sitting back.  
  
"How?" Rina asked him. "Any example I give, any time that I've acted with compassion or followed moral rules, all of that can be feigned. The Alliance does that often enough. Humanity is a hard quality to define, and harder still to prove. What would make me human?"   
  
Whatever he might have said, it was interrupted when Herc burst through the door, anger plain on his face. It was the most emotion Rina had ever seen on his face, and for a second she was frightened by his changed appearance. She'd never seen such rage before, and automatically her mind began to analyze it. None of them were used to emotions - the closest thing they'd experienced was a cold anger at the enemies of the Alliance. That was all the Alliance had allowed them to feel. Now Herc was developing emotions, and had no experience in dealing with them, in controlling them. Normally that sort of control was learned in the growing up process, but he hadn't had that, and that could make him very dangerous now.  
  
"You asshole," Herc began, and his terms became less complimentary from there. Herc had quite a vocabulary, and seemed intent on using all of it on the Snake to express what he thought of his questioning Rina's humanity. It seemed that her continuous repetition of the fact has erased any doubts in his mind as to whether or not they were human.  
  
"Herc," she said sharply, trying to end this before she completely alienated the Snake. She agreed - in principle - with everything Herc was saying, but she hadn't gotten where she was now by saying everything that came to mind.  
  
He ignored her, and she swiftly got to her feet and placed herself between Herc and the Snake. "Herc!" she shouted at him, allowing anger to color her voice. He finally broke off mid-curse, still bristling with anger, but he raised his head into the 'attention' position the Alliance had taught him, his anger fading from his face, if not actually going away. The Snake stared at him in horror and disbelief.  
  
There was a stunned silence which was broken when Arthur suddenly appeared in the doorway. It was clear from his expression - or lack of one - that he knew what had happened. Herc must have observed the discussion between Rina and the Snake on the cameras, read their lips, and... well, Rina knew what had happened next. What she didn't know was how Arthur had gotten involved. "Herc," Arthur instructed in a cold voice. "Come with me."   
  
Herc didn't move, and Rina saw the muscles in his jaw clench. "Herc," she said quietly. "This is an order. I want you to take yourself back to your room and stay there. Consider yourself confined to quarters until the delegates from the other colonies leave."  
  
"Wait," the Snake said, eyeing Herc nervously. "You're... like the Phoenix?" his question was directed at both boys. Arthur nodded, not taking his eyes off Herc. "You inspire considerable loyalty in your subordinates. Maybe there's an answer to my question here. Do you mind if I ask them a few questions?"  
  
Rina indicated it was all right. She knew that she could trust them not to reveal anything she'd been hiding, and she did want this situation dealt with. Maybe if he got a chance to defend her he could work through this anger. "Why do you feel so strongly about the question of the Phoenix's humanity? Unless, of course, it's because it's also a question of your own humanity, because you are the same."  
  
Once he was given a definite target for his anger, Herc got control of himself quickly, and thought up an answer to the Snake's question. What was really surprising was that the next statement came out in a casual voice, as if he was having a normal conversation. There was no indication - outwardly - that he'd been screaming obscenities a few seconds earlier. "That is always an issue, of course. It would be unrealistic to say that has no part in my... emotion. But that's not the main reason I'm so... angry." There was a hint of surprise in his voice as he realized what was happening to him, and Rina wondered if the Snake caught any of that. "We... always believed that we weren't human, and Rina's worked long and hard to teach us otherwise. She's... she's voluntarily given up more of herself than almost anyone I've ever seen. And she... she cares. We were always told that we weren't human, and she was the only one who ever told us otherwise, for the longest time..." he trailed off as he realized he might have given away more than he intended.   
  
The Snake might be arrogant, but he hadn't been bragging about his intelligence, and caught the slip. "You were told you weren't human..." he said thoughtfully. "And you all act completely differently than the Phoenix, leading me to believe that you were not raised in the same situation as she was. Add to that the fact that no one wants to talk about what you were doing more than a year ago, and it seems that you're hiding something about your past - the five of you. I wonder what it is?" He looked to them for confirmation, but got no clue from their faces, which remained as calm as ever, even though Rina could practically hear Herc berating himself for making that slip.   
  
When their faces told him nothing, the Snake continued, "And I wonder... what could be bad enough that you would try to hide it? We know that you were created by the Alliance, but none of use hold that against you, and after all you've done to fight the Alliance, it would have to be a pretty serious crime to hide. What is it?"  
  
Rina studied the young man, less experienced than her in the ways of intrigue and politics, but he showed great promise, and if he did take her ideas back to his colony, the potential benefit would be great. But would he be able to work past their past? She decided to temporize for a minute. "It's connected with Mike Turston, my aide... what is your policy on Alliance personnel who join us?"  
  
He frowned, confused by the sudden change in topic. "We keep them under much closer scrutiny than normal recruits, but as long as they remain loyal to us, we try to forget whatever crimes they committed while they were working for the Alliance. It isn't always easy."  
  
"Mike worked for the Alliance," Rina said, relieved that his policy was the same as hers. Now she would see whether he would be able to forget the boys crimes. "He worked on the project that created us, but left because of ethical issues with the way the Alliance treated their creations."  
  
"But... that would mean... the Alliance held you for... how long, several years?" the Snake asked, confused, and Rina glanced at the boys. Herc had started this, he might as well finish it.  
  
"No," Herc said grimly, sounding like a grizzled war veteran. "They didn't hold us. They... owned us. We were their slaves, and we worked for them. As planners and assassins. The Phoenix was fighting against us for years, because we didn't know any better. We thought... we allowed ourselves to be told that the Alliance truly served the people. But when she finally caught us, instead of killing us, the Phoenix spent months teaching us the truth, that the Alliance did not serve the people, and that we were people. For the first fourteen years of my life, so-called true humans lied to me," he said in disgust. "The Phoenix was the first to tell us the truth. She could have killed us... we all know that none of us will ever be 'good' people, not normal humans, not after living under the Alliance for fourteen years. Heero... he's still cold-blooded, and probably always will be," Herc said with a philosophical shrug. "It would be easy to look at us all and see us as a lost cause. But she didn't. Which is why it is almost unbearable for any of us to hear someone accuse her of being inhuman. Save those accusations for the Alliance, because they have no place here." Herc finally ran out of words, and already seemed much calmer. Rina hadn't known that he felt this strongly about her, and she wasn't the only one staring in shock.  
  
"You... were... Alliance... assassins?" the Snake asked weakly.   
  
"Our policy is the same as yours - we try to forget past crimes. But we thought that you and the others might be uncomfortable if you knew how deeply involved in the Alliance they were."  
  
"That idiot Brenden would have tried to kill us himself, that's sure," Herc said with a hint of a smile, showing that he was returning to his normal good humor. It seemed that this one venting of emotion had been very good for him. Rina made a mental note of that if this ever happened again. "Try being the operative word."  
  
"And you, Snake?" Rina asked. "How forgiving can you be?"  
  
"I like to think I'm as forgiving as the next man, but there are limits!" he exclaimed, then turned bright red. "I can see why you'd like to hide it, though."  
  
"If you want," Arthur said quietly. "I can give you some other reasons to trust the Phoenix."  
  
The Snake pulled back slightly, then nodded shortly. "You have given me a lot to think about already, and not much of it is encouraging."  
  
Arthur smiled slightly. "We haven't begun yet."  
  
  
  



	15. Part 14

Rina never found out what Arthur said to convince the Snake, but whatever it was, it worked. The next night, after Brenden and the other hardheads had retired for the night, she was approached by the Snake and the others he had spoken for. They apologized for doubting her, and Rina saw a smug smile on Arthur's face and decided not to ask questions, even though he had succeeded in what she would have thought to be an impossible task. Unless... she frowned. Unless he'd manipulated him, something she'd been trying to avoid. Though more sensitive and human than the others, Arthur could be as expedient as anyone when he chose, and he very well might have decided that this cause was worth bending a few rules to convince the Snake. Another good reason not to ask. If he had manipulated them, she wouldn't know what to tell the Snake, anyway. The result was all that she could have hoped for, though, and without the Snakes' mistrust or Brenden's ridiculousness, they got more accomplished in those late nights and early mornings than in many of the hours they met during the day.  
  
Rina found herself fascinated by these people, and the Snake in particular. All of her life had been spent around people who were not nearly as smart as she was. There were a few who were brilliant, of course - Mike was one of them, as was the late Dr. Green, and her father was no slouch himself (in fact, all of her top advisors were bright enough to qualify as near-geniuses in their own fields) but no one like the Snake, who was easily the most intelligent and insightful human she'd ever met, and in many areas. He wasn't as quick mentally as she or the boys, didn't have perfect recall, and didn't have much experience, but he was close in the first two categories, and the third would be fixed in time. There was a good reason that he rose to power so young, and she thanked her lucky stars that he hadn't risen to power in the Alliance. He would have made a very dangerous enemy, maybe even more dangerous in some ways than the boys because he wouldn't have been tricked into it. All the same, it was a fascinating experience, to be with a person whose mind worked that fast, and who wasn't created like she was. It also made her wonder - it seemed as if humanity, in general, was getting smarter. It was a slow process, of course, but there were more and more geniuses like Mike and her father showing up, at least in the colonies, and now there was the Snake, who was on another level altogether, like them, except that he was a natural mutation. She wondered if this general patter was also present on Earth, and if humanity normally went through cycles where people got smarter or not. This was the sort of thing that she would have liked to study if her entire life was not taken up with fighting the Alliance. But it wasn't a choice for her, so she tried to put the matter out of her mind.  
  
She also took them - and only them - to see Refuge. They were all suitably impressed, and several left with plans to try to start their own cities. They also left with plans for Dr. Green's invention. That alone could have an enormous impact on the lives of the people in the colonies, because if the Rebels were no longer struggling to find food, they could concentrate on other things, like hurting the Alliance. The plans for the devise she also gave to the other representatives, although she didn't explain that they were already in use or where they came from. Even those idiots could appreciate obvious technology improvements, and they might even use it. Still, Rina was very relieved when they returned to their respective colonies. This meeting had been both more helpful and more difficult than she ever could have imagined.  
  
-----------  
  
After the other Rebels left, business got back to normal, strikes against the Alliance's bases, attacks on soldiers stationed in the streets, the propaganda war, and intelligence operations. They heard little from the other Rebel groups, although it soon became apparent that the Snake, at least, hadn't hesitated to implement her ideas. As time passed, some of the others followed suit, and Rina felt that the meeting, tedious and difficult as it had been, had been worth the effort.   
  
One day, almost a year after Kan joined them, they were having a meeting discussing - theoretically - what would be necessary to take over. There were a number of things blocking them, the most important of which was the Alliance's most heavily guarded secret - the location of its headquarters. Out of concern for attacks just like the one the Rebels were trying to plan, the headquarters of Alliance leaders for each of the colonies were located somewhere outside the colony, probably underground just a few klicks from the dome, but that still left a lot of ground to cover. The boys didn't know anything about it, because they'd been stationed either in the colony itself or in a small colony outside the main dome, but not in the main base. There was no data about the location or building of the headquarters in the computer, and like Refuge, few people who ever entered base ever left it. Even the soldiers lived there all the time, and all the transportation of supplies was done by drones. So while the headquarters gave orders to all of the Alliance soldiers for Alpha colony, no one actually knew where it was. The Chancellor of Alpha colony lived on the base - Rina knew for a fact that he did not live in the heavily guarded grounds of the official residence, and that the transmissions from him (for purposes of propaganda) were all routed through the house to make it look as if he was actually there. The Chancellor made only one public appearance a year, probably because of fear for his own life. His face and voice were widely publicized though. The lack of a position to attack was the main thing blocking their ability to make that strike.  
  
"Don't forget there's also the satellites to think of," Heero reminded the meeting. Every colony had several military satellites positioned in geosynchronous orbit above them. If the Rebels took over, the Alliance might very well chose to bomb the colony's dome, rather than loose control of it. That was another threat that had to be dealt with. Rina sighed at the inescapable fact that she would in all likelihood never see the freedom of the Alpha colony.   
  
-----------  
  
"We'll have to destroy them before we can strike," Herc said matter-of-factly.  
  
"Not necessarily," Kan told him. "The satellites are controlled by computers. If we could find some way to take them over..."  
  
"Those computers have manual overrides just in case that happens," Michael interrupted him. "We try to take over the system, they can override us and still launch missiles."  
  
"Do we know where the manual overrides are?" Brandon asked.  
  
"Not yet," Heero told him. "But we know there's at least one in their headquarters. The rest are spaced out around the city." Saying that there was one at the headquarters was the same as saying it was inaccessible. They might be able to take out the others, but it would take time to beat the headquarters' security, once they found it, and in that time they might be able to launch missiles at the colony.  
  
"Can I see the program?" Arthur asked, and Heero handed over the sheets. Arthur studied it for a few minutes, then said, "I think I might be able to do something with this. It'll take some time, but I think I can make some changes to the system without them noticing. Specifically, I can remove their ability to perform a manual override. After that, it's pretty simple to take over the system. But making the changes so that they don't notice and so that I don't set off any alarms won't be easy. It may take some time. In fact, it's going to take a lot of time, maybe months."  
  
"It doesn't matter until we find the headquarters anyway," Heero said. "The changes will stay once you've made them?"  
  
"Yup. They'll be there permanently, or at least until I go back in there and change them."  
  
"It would be good if we don't destroy those satellites," Patricia said thoughtfully. "If we have control of them, we can defend ourselves against anything else they might send at us. The missiles don't only aim at the colony."  
  
Heero nodded. It was a good point - Rina had chosen her aids and companions well. He glanced at Rina, who always had the OK on projects like this, even if she had nothing to do with them. It was good to have at least one person who knew everything that was going on, to coordinate.   
  
Then he noticed how that she was clenching her teeth as if in pain, and gripping the sides of the chair tightly. Her eyes were fixed on a point in the air in front of her, and he wondered if she'd heard anything they'd said. "Rina?" When she didn't respond, he asked, "Phoenix?"   
  
Suddenly she started to shake violently and fell out of the chair. She was lying on the floor now, gasping for air. Heero was dimly aware of Mike getting out of his chair and running out of the room, but his attention was fixed on Rina, who was undergoing some sort of convulsions, throwing her arms all over, struggling to breathe.   
  
"Rina!" Arthur shouted, and Heero could hear the fear in his voice. Heero was surprised to find that his heart was also beating fast, that he was also afraid for her. What's wrong with her? he thought. They didn't get sick, because of what they were, they were born immune to almost every disease out there. Even serious injuries healed in a matter of days or weeks. What was going on?  
  
Mike came running back into the room, carrying a hypospray. He knelt by Rina's side and tried to reach her neck, but the wild thrashing of her limbs prevented him. One fist caught him in the shoulder and nearly sent him flying across the room. He looked up, saw the boys. "Hold her!" he snapped. "I need to give her an injection!"  
  
The five boys were already clustered around her, and now they grabbed her arms and legs and tried to hold her still as gently as they could. Mike reached in and injected something into her neck, and after a minute, her arms and legs stopped shaking, and her breathing returned to normal. She opened her eyes and slowly sat up. She was shivering, and her skin was hot to the touch. Arthur was on one side of her, supporting her, and Heero found himself on the other. They lifted her up and carried her to the nearest room with a cot in it, and gently lay her down. For a moment she lay there, not moving at all, then she tried to sit up. Her attempt failed, and for a second Heero was really afraid - he'd never seen her weak like this. Finally she did sit up, and looked at Mike, who stood in the door. "How much did you give me?"  
  
"Fifty microliters," he replied. "It's losing effectiveness."  
  
"Well, we knew that was coming," Rina said slowly. "Thanks."  
  
Mike nodded and left them alone with her. "Rina, what's going on?" Arthur asked.   
"What was that? What's happening to you?"  
  
"I'm dying." Rina smiled weakly.   
  
"What?!" Arthur gasped. "How?"  
  
"A disease."  
  
"That's impossible. We're immune..." Rina reached out and touched Arthur's shoulder, silencing him.   
  
"I wasn't entirely honest with you when we first met. I probably should have told you, but I wanted to wait..." she trailed off.  
  
Heero couldn't believe what he was hearing. He forced himself to ask the question. "What didn't you tell us?"  
  
"I told you that I escaped being killed because I'd been adopted by the ambassador, that the man who took us to the orphanage thought we wouldn't be a danger because we were just babies. He did, however, accept the fact that if we grew to adulthood, we could somehow become a danger to the Alliance. He managed to get his hands on a disease that our creators had made specifically for us, working around our immunities. I don't know why they did it - I think that the disease was originally intended to be used as a threat to keep you in line, but they decided to use other forms of persuasion... well, you know what they ended up using. In any case, the disease was designed, a vial of it was created, and then they decided not to use it. But when Kevins was ordered to dispose of us, he got his hands on that vial. He injected all of us girls with the disease before he delivered us to the orphanage, so even though I escaped, I didn't."  
  
"He said the injection was loosing it's effectiveness," Michael said quietly. "What did he mean?"  
  
"The disease is adapted from a genetic disorder that some humans used to have. It's activated by the presence of certain hormones in the host, specifically, the hormones associated with puberty. I've been taking pills and more recently, injecting myself with shots of hormonal suppressants, so that I don't start manufacturing those hormones and go through puberty."  
  
Heero suddenly realized why, at the age of fifteen, she still had a body that was almost indistinguishable from a boy's except in the most important region. "That's why you haven't started to develop yet."  
  
"I've been holding off nature now for two years. I should have gone through puberty at the age of thirteen," she said. "That's exactly average, and that's the way the doctors designed me. By taking the suppressants, I've managed to extend my life by over two years. But I can't hold nature off forever. As Mike said, the suppressants are losing their effectiveness. Sooner or later I'm going to go through puberty, and then I'll die."  
  
"How long?" Arthur asked in a whisper.   
  
"Six months," Rina replied carelessly, as if it didn't matter. "Maybe eight, but I doubt it. I'm not going to make it to my sixteenth birthday, that's for sure."  
  
"How long have you known about this?" Kan asked.  
  
"Since I was eight. After the car hit me, and I started looking at my own blood work, I noticed the traces of the disease in my bloodstream. It had multiplied, and was in remission. It took almost a year for me to figure out what it was. I've known since then."  
  
"That's the real reason you came after us," Heero said, speaking as understanding came to him. "Besides all of the reasons you told us, about not wanting us in the hands of the Alliance. You didn't really need help. You needed replacements."  
  
"The Rebels will be hunted down and killed without me. This isn't vanity on my part, it's just a fact. The Rebels were infested with Alliance agents before I started here, and it's only a matter of time until they are again after I'm gone. The only reason the Rebels have been able to keep up at all in the last years, what with their lack of resources, was because of me. My going after you, it was a move of desperation. But then, most of my most brilliant schemes are. People don't realize that if you don't tell them, they think it's just bravery."  
  
"Why didn't you tell us?" Arthur asked again, still not raising his voice.  
  
"I don't know. I should have, but... I try not to think about what's going to happen to me, and I wanted you to become Rebels because you wanted to, not because you felt sorry for me. The disease hasn't affected my performance until the last few weeks, when the convulsions started. It wouldn't be so painful, except that I'm resisting. If I had allowed the disease to take its course, I would have just gone quietly while I slept. This way is going to be considerably more painful, but I won myself a few more years."  
  
"Who knows about this?" Heero asked, still forcing his mind forward, still refusing to think about how he felt, trying to imagine his new life without Rina present.  
  
"All of my advisors, my father, my household, and my doctor," Rina said. "All of them are completely trustworthy. They won't tell what happened to me. The press, of course, will notice the death of Rina Krace, but everyone else, including most of the Rebels, won't even know that the Phoenix has died, because he won't." She stared at Heero, and he suddenly realized what she was saying.  
  
"No. I can't do that."  
  
"I've left strict instructions," she said, ignoring his comment. "When I die, you're the Phoenix. You know enough about my mannerisms that you should be able to fake any messages you need to send during the first few months following my death, and after that, it won't matter if the Alliance suspects that there has been a change in the Phoenix, although they probably won't notice at all. No one has any problems with my choice - I've already discussed it with all of my advisors. When I die, you're the new Phoenix."  
  
"No."  
  
"Please, Heero. Don't argue with me about this."  
  
He was silent. Accepting the fact that he would be the new Phoenix would be accepting the fact that she was going to die, and he wasn't ready to do that. She seemed to understand, though, and didn't ask for his agreement, yet. "The Phoenix rises from the ashes. I rose from the ashes of my sisters, and now you will rise from my ashes. There's a certain rightness to it."  
  
"Isn't there anything you can do?" Arthur burst out. "There has to be something!"  
  
"Arthur, if there was anything I could do, don't you think I would have done it?" she asked softly.  
  
Arthur fell silent, although Heero doubted that he'd really accepted what Rina said. Even now Heero could see Arthur's mind working at full speed. Whether he could come up with anything was anybody's guess.  
  
"That sounded like a good idea at the meeting," Rina said. "I heard you, even if it didn't look like it. Go ahead with it, Arthur. That way you'll be ready to strike when you find their headquarters."  
  
You'll be ready... The words echoed in Heero's mind. She really is going to die. He thought of all the times he'd seen her speaking of the future, she had always been very careful to say 'we' and 'us'. It was like when he'd been taught to play a character; she'd been playing the part of a healthy leader who intended to see this through to the end, even though she knew that she wouldn't see the fall of the Alliance, not even in this one little region. Somehow he found that the saddest thing of all. She had known when she joined the Rebels that she only had a little time - had she foreseen the desperation that would lead her to her most dangerous enemies in search of allies?  
  
Rina sighed, then swung her legs around off the cot. "I'm all right now. We'd better get on with the meeting."  
  
"Are you sure?" Arthur asked.  
  
"Yes. I want to get as much done as possible today." That was a common enough statement from her, but now it took on more serious overtones. ...because I might not be here tomorrow.  
  
----------  
  
A few nights later, while Rina was back at home with her father, Heero found Arthur working in a secluded room by himself. "What are you doing?"  
  
"Work." That vague answer alone would have been enough to tell Heero that Arthur wasn't working on any mission Rina had given him.  
  
He walked over to the computer terminal Arthur was working on. Arthur didn't make an attempt to hide it. "You're looking for something."  
  
"Someone," Arthur corrected him. "And I've found him."  
  
Heero looked closer. "You've found Dr. Ethen!" he exclaimed.  
  
"He was one of the three doctors who created us, and he also made the disease that's killing Rina" Arthur said. "Dr. Smith is dead, and Mem... I mean Yirtz wouldn't help us. But if anyone knows how to cure her, it would be him."  
  
"Hasn't Rina checked this out herself?" Heero asked, not able to believe she'd leave out such an important possibility.  
  
"Rina has some bad habits," Arthur commented. "She's so used to being on her own, trusting no one but her aides and expecting no help from anyone at all, she forgets that there are other people out there who might want to help. Ethen was ejected from the project because he knew what Smith had done and because he wouldn't do the things to us they wanted to. I think he'd want to help her, if he knew, but she would never allow us to take such a risk if she knew about it."  
  
"If," Heero repeated. "When are you leaving?"  
  
"Tonight. The others have agreed to cover for me. They'll tell her that I went off to do some intel work on my own, for something that might hurt the Alliance a lot."  
  
"Keeping Rina alive would hurt the Alliance a lot," Heero agreed.   
  
"They'll cover for you, too," Arthur said hesitantly. "If you'll go with me..."  
  
"Where are we going?" Heero said, ignoring the way relief showed clearly on Arthur's face. It was just like Rina had first told him, Arthur's emotions didn't get in the way of his work, or his efficiency, so they shouldn't matter. Now what happened to my emotions?  
  
"It's a small dome a few dozen klicks outside Alpha," Arthur said, bringing up a map. "It's an old one, a remnant of the original colonists. They lived there while they were building Alpha, then abandoned it. The Alliance stuck him down there a few weeks after we were born, and he's been there since. We'll have to get suits rated to vacuum travel, and a shuttle that won't be detected."  
  
"Not a problem," Heero said. He knew where they could steal both of those. "We leave now?"  
  
"We'd better. It's a few hours there and back, and we still have to convince him. If we're lucky we'll be back by midday tomorrow, but I doubt it." He stood up, and Heero noticed a vial of blood in his left hand. "Is that Rina's?"  
  
"Yes. If he does help us, he'll need this. I got it from Mike - Rina won't realize we've taken it, and Mike won't tell her."  
  
"You realize we're taking a big risk. This doctor could still be loyal to the Alliance. If we hand over her blood to him, he'll be able to identify her."  
  
"If we don't do something, she'll be dead anyway. But I don't think he's really loyal to the Alliance - he didn't want to work for them in the first place, and they've kept him locked up for the past fifteen years. This is just another desperation move, you know."  
  
"I know," Heero said, considering the alternative - Rina dying. "Let's go."  
  
----------  
  
There was little trouble when they stole the suits and short-range shuttle from the Alliance base. Those sorts of things went missing all the time, and most of the time it was because of the bureaucracy, forgetting to file reports to say that the things were being serviced or upgraded or something. The only things that they kept careful track of were weapons. Suits and short-range shuttles weren't exactly weapons. The shuttle they'd stolen wouldn't get them to another colony, which was the target of most thieves and smugglers. The longer-range shuttles, the ones that could reach other colonies were more well guarded. The shuttle they stole was usually used to check the outside of the dome for any problems.  
  
The ride was uneventful, and Arthur even caught a few minutes sleep in the back of the vehicle, catching up on the time he'd missed because of the theft. They only needed a few hours of sleep every night anyway, and if they had to skip, they could do without for several days at a time. When they got to the tiny dome, only a few hundred meters in diameter, they stopped outside the air lock, hiding the shuttle among some rocks. "There's an alarm on the door," Heero muttered to himself. "It'll go off if we try to enter without a pass code."  
  
"Can you bypass it?" Arthur asked.   
  
"Yeah, just give me a minute." Heero set to work, his fingers slightly clumsy in the oversized gloves. It couldn't be helped - no one thought to make spacesuits their size. The Alliance had a couple made for them so they could train in vacuum environments, but a standard base wouldn't carry those, so they had to make due. It took Heero nearly five minutes to bypass the security on the door, five minutes while Arthur waited silently, watching the counters on their oxygen tanks drop down. Finally they got into the airlock and sealed it behind them. There was a large notice pasted on the next door. "NO SPACESUITS BEYOND THIS POINT! HIGHLY DANGEROUS PRISONER!"  
  
Arthur looked at Heero. "Do we care?"  
  
"Not normally, but they may have rigged lasers around the door to shoot anything with the material of a spacesuit that passes through. We'd be better off leaving them here."   
  
Arthur nodded. The chances of them having to make a quick exit were slim to none. No one came out here. They both stripped out of their spacesuits and left them hanging on the wall. Underneath both wore the black stretch suits they'd been wearing for the theft of the shuttle. They both pulled masks over their faces, checked to make sure their guns were ready to be drawn from the holsters under their arms, and stepped through the door.   
And into a garden. Arthur stared around him. He'd never seen such a place, except in pictures. It was somewhat like he imagined Earth would have been, many years ago before the spread of the cities back there. There were no animals that he could see, but flowers and bushes of every imaginable shape crowded close together around a small stone path. He also saw Heero looking around. "What is this place?" Heero asked rhetorically.   
  
"It's a garden."  
  
"What would a garden be doing in an old colony on Mars?"  
  
Arthur shrugged. "He's been here a long time. Maybe he makes plants in his spare time, now."  
  
Heero shook his head in disbelief, then drew his gun and started out down the path. Smiling to himself, Arthur followed suit. Heero really had changed a lot in the last year. It would take someone who knew him very well to tell, but he was a lot more relaxed. He talked more, and even showed caring for someone every now and then.   
  
The path wound its way back and forth for a while, and finally stopped at what was left of the original colonists' main dormitory. The dormitory had obviously been converted into a large house, while the rest of the buildings had been destroyed. Artificial sunlight shown down on a small clearing in front of the house, and in that clearing sat an older man, his hair already white with age, his movements slow and deliberate. He didn't turn or look up as they moved silently towards him, but before they could reach him, he said, "So, they finally sent you to kill me. I'm surprised. I would have expected them to just blow the dome. Much quicker that way, less messy. They always were a bunch of cowards."  
  
"We aren't here to kill you," Arthur said in a low voice, wondering how the old man had heard them.  
  
That caused him to turn around, and they faced an old man with a thin face and glasses perched on his nose. "Don't lie to me!" he snapped. "Why else would the Alliance send you? Not to try to convince me to work on another of their 'projects', they gave that up a long time ago. Even if it was to try to convince me by offering me a glimpse of my children, this is an awkward way to do it, wearing masks like that. Did they think that I wouldn't recognize you with those stupid things?" There was disgust in his voice.  
  
Arthur was stunned - no one had ever referred to them as someone's children. They were experiments. Heero said in a low voice just above a growl. "The Alliance didn't send us."  
  
"Don't lie. Who else would send you?"  
  
"We left the Alliance a year ago."  
  
"You what?" Arthur saw surprise and a flash of hope pass across the man's face before he frowned again. "No. This is some sort of trick. Why are you doing this? What could the Alliance hope to gain?"  
  
"It's true," Arthur said, regaining his voice. He fed honesty and enthusiasm into the words. "We left the Alliance because we found out the truth about what they were doing to us, and to the colony, what their real motives were."  
  
"I did hear something big happened a year ago," the man said, talking to himself. "No, that's impossible. How did you find out?"  
  
"The Phoenix captured us and exposed us to the truth about the Alliance," Arthur told him.  
  
"The Phoenix!" the man repeated, and then said it again. "The Phoenix. Hmmm. They censor most of what little information I receive here, but even I've heard of the Phoenix. He's supposed to be the new leader of the Rebels, right? Brilliant tactician, really irritating the Alliance - good for him!" He glanced at the two boys as if judging their response. "Give me some proof that you're not with the Alliance."  
  
"Your name is Dr. Richard Ethen. You worked on us with two doctors, Dr. Marcus Yirtz, whom we grew up knowing as Mr. Mem, and Dr. Karen Smith, who was executed at our birth because of what she did to our genes."   
  
The man leaned back in his seat. "The Alliance would never have told you that," he murmured. "But how on Earth did you learn it?"  
  
"The Phoenix broke into our records and retrieved that data," Heero told him.   
"If all that's true, why are you wearing masks?"  
  
"We didn't know if you still served the Alliance," Arthur told him.  
  
"We still don't know," Heero said with a frown that Arthur could see under the mask. But Arthur did know. No one who worked for the Alliance would call them his children.   
  
"Serve the Alliance!" the man repeated as if it was the most unbelievable thing he'd ever heard. "I didn't want to serve the Alliance fifteen years ago, but they threatened my family. I did what they told me, but they still locked me up here. My wife was with me for a while, but she died eight years ago. My son and daughter are still alive, on Earth I think, but they think I'm dead. The only thing keeping me here is the vacuum on all sides and this," he held up his wrist. There was a metal bracelet around it, the type the Alliance used on dangerous prisoners. "If I try to leave this place, that will blow me into nice little pieces. No, I have no loyalty to the Alliance, no more than you do, I believe. There's no danger in me telling you this, of course. The Alliance already knows how I feel, but my brain's too valuable for them to kill me yet. I still know more about you guys than anyone else alive, including Marcus, and I don't... I can't cause any trouble here, so they keep me alive. Besides that, I've already disabled every camera they have in here. They used to come out and replace them or fix them, but they gave up years ago. There's really nothing I could do with the bit of freedom it gives me."  
  
Arthur responded by pulling off the mask. Ethen's eyes widened, and Arthur even thought he saw some tears in the man's eyes. Either he was a better actor than any person Arthur had ever seen, able to control his heartbeat and every part of his body for the part he was playing, or he was telling the truth. "I never thought I'd get to see any of you in the flesh," he said, smiling happily, then got control of himself. "All right, if the Alliance didn't send you, what are you doing here?"  
  
"We came to ask a favor," Heero asked, also pulling off his mask.   
  
"A favor? What could I do for you?"   
  
"Sixteen years ago, while you were still designing us, the Alliance also had you design a disease, specific to our genes."  
  
He frowned. "Yes, but they decided not to use it, because the disease wouldn't become active until puberty, and they wanted something that would kill immediately." He froze. "Oh my God, is one of you five...?"  
  
"No," Arthur told him. He hesitated, then added, "One of us six."  
  
"Six!" the man repeated in a whisper. "That's impossible!"  
  
"There were ten of us, originally, weren't there?" Arthur asked.   
  
"Yes, that's why they killed Karen," the man agreed. "But they killed the other five."  
  
"They only managed to kill four," Arthur said. "The fifth was adopted and raised as a normal human, or at least as normal as one of us could be. She became the Phoenix, and she's the one who captured us and showed us the truth about the Alliance."  
  
"One of the girls is alive?" the man asked, tearing again. "I thought that it would take an extraordinary human to trap you guys..."  
  
"It did, but now she's dying because of your disease," Arthur told him.  
  
"Wait, how can that be?" he asked. "The disease was supposed to kick in at puberty. The way we designed her, that should have happened years ago."  
  
"She's been taking hormonal suppressants since she found out, when she was eight. But they're beginning to loose their effectiveness. She's going to die unless we can find a cure. You said you have knowledge that no one else alive has - you're the only one who knows enough about us to be able to make a cure."  
  
"I don't know if I could make a cure," Ethen said unhappily. "It was years ago, and they weren't interested in something that could be cured. I'm not even sure I remember what I did."  
  
"Here," Arthur said, pulling the vial of blood out of his belt. "Here's a sample of her blood. It has both her genes and the disease in it, everything you should need. Do you have a lab here?"  
  
"Yes, I have one. I do a little tinkering now and then, to keep myself in practice," Ethen said, eying the vial. "Do you realize what you're giving me? If that really is her blood, I could use it to identify her."  
  
"You could," Arthur said as the man took the blood. "But you said you wanted to hurt the Alliance. Can you think of any better way to hurt them than by saving the life of their greatest enemy?"  
  
Ethen nodded, and there was a hint of anger in him. "I'll do everything I can, but I can't promise miracles."  
  
"We aren't asking for miracles. We just want your best effort," Arthur told him.  
"That you have."  
  
"She only has six months to live," Heero said. "Eight, maybe. We'll be back in one month to see how you're doing."  
  
"Six months! The disease took years to program!"  
  
Arthur hesitated, realizing just how slim their chances were. "Just do your best. We'll be back in a month. Come on." He jerked his head at Heero, and they left.  
  
-----------  
  
Rina stared at the screen in front of her, trying to concentrate, but the words kept blurring, so that she couldn't read. Then her hand started to shake slightly, and she couldn't make it stop. Using her other hand she picked up her injector, waiting to see if she'd need another injection now, but the shaking subsided in a few minutes, and her eyesight returned to normal. But now she couldn't concentrate, not for a few minutes, at any rate. She stood up and walked out of the little room where she kept her computers and did all of her secret work, and into her bedroom, flexing her hand to get rid of the stiffness.   
  
The convulsions were getting worse, although no one but she knew it. Not even Mike knew how much stronger they were now, compared to when they first started. She smiled grimly - when you were that much stronger than normal humans, it was impossible to tell between a strong convulsion and a really strong one. But that she'd managed to keep it hidden all this time didn't change the fact that they were getting worse. Eight months was generous, she thought to herself. Far too generous. I'll be lucky if I make six or seven, the way this is going. She stared thoughtfully at the red moon. It looked something like a baleful eye, glaring at her, and she shivered before she got control of herself.   
  
Baleful eye, my foot. It's a big piece of rock, probably broke off of Centari eons ago. Nothing spooky or mystical about it. Maybe my mind's beginning to go. But even as the thought occurred to her, she dismissed it. There was nothing wrong with her mental faculties - she was alert to that danger. The worst thing she could do would be to start making stupid mistakes as her disease progressed. What was the point of living longer if she started to hurt the Rebels through her carelessness? No, she checked herself each day for any signs that she was slipping. There was no indication that she was operating at anything but her peak efficiency, aside from the convulsions.  
  
No, the reason that she was starting to see mystical symbols in everyday objects was philosophical, not physical, in nature. After all this time, she still wasn't sure if she was human. Humans had been fascinated with death since the species first came into being, which was why, she was convinced, religion had been created. It explained the unexplainable, and provided hope both for the dying and for those left behind that there was something after life. That was all well and good for true humans, but what about something like her? She was quite certain that some all-powerful, omnipotent, omnipresent being had little to do with *her* creation.   
  
Did that mean she didn't have a soul? Did that mean that she would simply cease to exist when she died, that nothing of her would survive? The thought frightened her, more than she would admit, even to herself.   
  
For several minutes she simply stared at the single red moon, not planning, for once not even thinking about anything at all. Just staring.   
  
Then she came to her senses. Stop wasting time, she scolded herself. I'll live on in the lives I save, helping the Rebels, and that won't be done standing here, staring at the moon like some kind of love-sick idiot and feeling sorry for myself. It was doubly stupid because it left her open to possible attack and certain notice by any unseen watchers.   
  
Rina closed the window and went back to work.  
  
----------  
  
Several months passed. At first, Rina was almost normal - the attacks came once every few weeks, and she started carrying an injector around with her. Then they started getting worse. It was a gradual process, but four and a half months after her original prediction, she was having the attack two and three times a day as the effectiveness of the injections lessened and lessened. She had to stay in bed a good part of the time. They began to see other changes, as her hips widened slightly and she began to develop breasts. In anyone else this would have been a time for celebration, but for her it was only a sign of her impending death.  
  
Dr. Ethen hadn't come up with anything yet.   
  
Then, one day, approximately six months before her sixteenth birthday, she didn't arrive at the base after school. Word came from her home that she wasn't feeling well enough to come. The base ran smoothly enough without her, thanks mostly to Michael, who had quietly started taking over the basic day-to-day administrative duties, but they all felt her loss. That night, all five boys managed to sneak into her house, and they met her father for the first time.   
  
Getting past the security she'd designed to keep the Alliance out was tricky, and involved them scaling thirty feet of flat walls to get into a side room. They got inside, and almost immediately found themselves face-to-face with three gun-wielding guards. The boys could have taken them easily, but they didn't - these were people Rina had picked because of their loyalty to her and hate for the Alliance. There was no way for them to know that the boys meant no harm, so they raised their hands in the air. "We came to see Rina," Arthur told them.  
  
"You did?" said a voice behind the guards, and Ambassador Krace strode over. "You!" he exclaimed. He waved a hand at the guards. "It's all right, they mean no threat to me or Rina. Go back to your posts." The guards instantly obeyed, leaving the five boys alone with the Ambassador.   
  
"Where's Rina?" Heero asked, looking around.  
  
"She's in her room, her regular room, asleep," Krace said. "She was expecting you, but she had another attack and fell asleep right afterwards. She asked me to convey her apologies that she wasn't able to join you today." The Ambassador seemed tired, worn out.   
He really does care about Rina, and this is hurting him, Arthur thought. He'd never had much of a chance to observe parent-child relationships. He spent more time in Refuge than any of the others, but that still didn't make him human.  
  
"May we see her?"  
  
"I don't think that's such a good idea. She needs rest."  
  
Arthur nodded at the wisdom of the suggestion, although he was disappointed at not being able to see her. "When she wakes up, please tell her that everything ran smoothly in her absence. Just like she intended." His voice caught in his throat.  
  
The Ambassador nodded, tears in his own eyes. "I'll tell her."  
  
As they snuck back out of the house, Arthur heard the distant sound of crying.  
  
Rina came back the day after, and was there for several more days, but then she couldn't get up again. And again. By the beginning of the sixth month, she was bedridden most of the time. Word had gotten out to the press that the beloved daughter of Ambassador Krace was ill, although no one knew the reason. After that it got harder and harder to sneak in, because of the press camped out on the lawn. This was big news even on Earth, because of all the controversy surrounding Alpha colony.   
  
All this time the boys had continued to work for the Rebels, leaving messages and hints that indicated that the Phoenix was still in control and all was well within the Rebels' ranks.   
  
Then, at almost the seven-month mark, she took a turn for the worse.  
  



	16. Part 15

It happened rather suddenly. She had reached a plateau in the last few weeks, where she was neither getting better nor worse. Then suddenly she wouldn't wake up at all. Her temperature shot through the roof, and she started hallucinating. At least, that's what Jules Krace thought they were, hallucinations. He immediately sent word through various channels, telling the Rebels what had happened and asking that the five boys and Mike come over at nightfall. Then came the long hours, sitting by her side at the bed, waiting for night to come and watching his daughter fade away.   
  
A few hours before sunset she woke up, in a way. She'd been muttering to herself for several hours, but suddenly she reached out to him. "Daddy?"   
  
He frowned. He didn't remember the last time she'd called him Daddy, if ever. She must be still hallucinating. "Daddy, please hold me," she murmured, not opening her eyes. He immediately moved to the bed and cradled her in his arms, gently stroking her head. Hands that he'd seen her use to bend steel hung limply at her side. Jules remembered reading somewhere, and tears again sprung to his eyes.   
  
"Daddy, I'm dying, aren't I?" Rina asked, opening her eyes a little. They were glazed from the fever, but he saw a hint of her usual self in them.   
  
He found he couldn't answer, but managed to nod his head. She began to cry a little, sobbing into the cloth of his shirt. "I don't want to die, Daddy. I'm afraid. What if there's nothing else?"   
  
Her voice was changing now, alternating between a little girl afraid of the dark and the woman he knew her to be, the one who was concerned with the afterlife, because she was not God's creation. He didn't understand who the little girl was, though. Rina had never been that little girl.   
  
"Daddy, I'm scared."   
  
"There, there," he soothed her uneasily. He'd never done this before, not with her. "It will all be over soon."   
  
"I'm tired. I know I should stay awake, but I'm so tired. And it hurts," her voice rose in something like a whine.   
  
With a flash of horrible insight, he realized what was happening. Somewhere, hidden deep inside of her, was the little girl that Rina should have been, the girl she would have been if not for the geneticists and their tampering. He'd always wondered what she would have been like if she were a normal girl - now, in the last hours of her life, he was getting a glimpse of that child. It was both amazing and horrible - this was not his Rina, but it could have been. It also showed how far the disease had progressed, how deep the hallucinations went that this little spark of who she might have been came out.   
  
For a long time he hugged that little girl, trying to ease her fears, until she lapsed back into deeper dreaming. He gently set her back down on the bed and stood up. He was trembling, and tears ran down his face.   
  
  
----------------   
  
  
"Do you think we can make it?" Arthur asked.   
  
"It depends on Rina, on how long she holds on. Even so, it's going to be a close thing, if he even has anything for us," Heero replied as he parked the shuttle. They vaulted out of the shuttle and ran to the air hatch. On the last visit, Ethen had said that he had something that looked promising, but nothing yet, and told them that he might have something by the time they returned. That had been only three weeks ago, but there wasn't any time to wait now. The news had come this morning that the last phase had set in, and that Rina would probably be dead by morning.   
  
Heero hurriedly bypassed the security, and they were already pulling off their suits as the seal was confirmed. They ran down the path at their top speed and into the house. Ethen was working in his lab. "What are you doing here?" he asked. "It isn't time yet..."   
  
"She's dying," Arthur said, aware that he was completely losing control of his emotions, and not caring. "Right now. Do you have something or don't you?"   
  
"Yes, I do." Ethen rummaged around in his desk and finally produced an IV bag full of a light blue liquid. "Tell them to give this to her. It should completely reverse the effects of the disease, and then kill off the virus when it's done. But I haven't finished testing it - this batch was just in case this happened. There might be side effects that I can't predict - there hasn't been time."   
  
Arthur grabbed the bag, then hesitated. He glanced at Heero.   
  
"There isn't anything to lose," Heero said, and Arthur was surprised to hear a hint of despair in his voice. Arthur wasn't the only one with emotions here. "She's dead without it." He looked at Ethen. "Even if this doesn't work, thank you for what you've done here. When we leave..."   
  
"I know. I'll destroy the blood sample and everything else. Don't worry, there won't be anything left."   
  
"Thanks," Heero said, and they ran back out.   
  
  
---------------   
  
  
Jules Krace looked up as the two missing boys, Heero and Arthur, ran into Rina's room. The other three, along with Michael, had been here since sundown. Rina hadn't woken up, and her grip on life was failing. The doctor couldn't tell him why she was still alive as it was - she just refused to let go, although the pain had to be great. "Where were you?!" he demanded angrily. "What were you doing that was more important than..." he trailed off as Arthur rushed to her bed and pulled down the IV bag feeding fluids into her body. He hurriedly replaced it with another bag, this one with a light-blue liquid in it, and connected it to her arm. Jules watched the blue liquid begin to seep into her.   
  
"What is that?" asked another angry voice. Dr. David Marci, the man who'd been tending to Rina through the last weeks of her illness, pushed past the watchers. Rina had selected him, had told him the truth about herself and the disease years ago. He had never so much as whispered a word of any of this to anyone, not even his second wife. His first wife had been a Rebel, and killed by the Alliance. "What are you giving her?" He reached out for the bag as if to pull it down.   
  
Arthur grabbed his hand and forced it away. "It's a chance," he said quietly. "We're giving her a chance."   
  
"What?" Jules asked, hardly daring to breathe.   
  
"We tracked down one of the scientists who created us, who also created the disease that's killing her. He made this up. It may help her, it may not. We have nothing to lose." Arthur stared down at her, a tender expression on his face.   
  
The doctor looked at Jules. "Sir? Do you know these boys?" The doctor didn't, but he wasn't a fool, and Arthur had easily overpowered him to keep him away from the IV. There was clearly something going on here that he didn't know.   
  
"Yes, I know them. Leave it in. You said she'd be dead by morning, anyway. What could it do to her?" Jules stared at the bag, then at his daughter, lying motionless on the bed. In the last few weeks her skin had taken on a grayish tinge. He'd known she would die for so long... Now these boys, these astonishing boys, had brought along a chance. They wouldn't have said so if there wasn't a possibility. Jules refused to allow himself to hope, not yet, but if there was a chance...   
  
He glanced at the clock and realized it was near dawn. "You'd better get out of here," he said, directing his words at the Rebels. "You can't be in the house when the sun comes up."   
  
Arthur started to protest, but his stone-faced companion stopped him. "You'll contact us if there's any change?" he asked Jules.   
  
"Of course."   
  
"He's right, we'd better get back."   
  
"Yes, the Phoenix needs to be back at the base," Mike said quietly, and Heero spun, looking as if he'd been shot.   
  
"I am not the Phoenix," he said sharply.   
  
"Rina left very explicit instructions," Mike responded. "You are the Phoenix."   
  
"The Phoenix is not dead. I have no intention of rising from her ashes, whether it has a sense of rightness or not."   
  
"Phoenix..." Mike started to say, but Heero suddenly walked up to him and slammed his open hand into the wall to the side of Mike's head. The wall shook from the impact, but didn't break, which was entirely due to Heero's control.   
  
"The Phoenix isn't dead. Don't bury her yet," Heero said in a low voice that screamed danger. "Come on," he said to the others, and they all silently followed him out the door. All but Arthur, who paused, then walked back to her bed. He bent on one knee at the edge of her bed, raised one limp hand to his lips, and kissed it. Then, blushing bright red, he followed the others.   
  
Mike stared after them, started to follow, but hesitated for a moment by the door, staring at Rina. "I didn't think she could do it," he confessed to Jules. "I didn't think she could turn them. I didn't think they were human enough to care for anyone. There have been times when I doubted that even she was human. But she is, and she did do it. They really care for her, even Heero, and it's more than what she did for them. They love her. I guess we all do."   
  
He looked at Jules. "You did a wonderful job raising her, sir."   
  
"She mostly raised herself," Jules said uneasily. These people knew Rina so well - they shared a part of her life that he couldn't, because of the demands of his job and his duty to the people of this colony.   
  
"I can believe that. Please take good care of her." He glanced nervously at his watch, then vanished out the door, leaving Krace alone with his daughter, his strange and unique and beautiful daughter, who inspired such loyalty in the people around her and who now lay quietly fighting for her life.   
  
  
--------------   
  
  
For the first twenty-four hours after Arthur and Heero brought the serum, there was no change. All six returned to the house the next night and the five boys stood a sort of vigil by her bed, not talking at all, but somehow Jules felt that they were communicating. There was no change, which might be a good sign in itself, the doctor told him cautiously, because she hadn't died yet. They left again at sunrise, and still there had been no change.   
  
Midday the second day after they brought the medicine, word reached them through the devious chain Rina had set up so that she could communicate with the Rebels from her own home without endangering her father. "The fever broke and she woke up for a few minutes." There was no name, no specifics, but that was the way it had to be. It took all of the boys' discipline not to go racing over to the house right away, but that was ridiculous - it was the middle of the day, and her house was the center of a media circus. There was no way they could sneak in. They had work to do, covering for Rina's absence, and they applied themselves to the task. It no longer seemed so onerous now that there was a chance she would be returning, and some of the Rebels wondered why the usually stern-faced young boys wandered around with smiles on their faces.   
  
  
---------------   
  
  
That evening the boys and Mike smuggled themselves back into the house. "She's been asking for you," Krace said. He was waiting for them when they arrived. Arthur couldn't wait to see Rina, but he noticed a slight hesitation on Krace's part before he spoke. Was something wrong? "She knows that you got her the medicine, and she wants to thank you. I also wanted to thank you. I couldn't before because I didn't dare to hope, but..."   
  
"I understand," Arthur said with what patience and understanding he could manage to put in his voice, considering how much he wanted to see her. He hurried down the hall, following the others. Rina was still lying in her bed in the darkened room, but now she was talking quietly to the doctor. "...and please record all of the blood work for me to listen to," she said, then turned her head as they walked in the door. "Who is that?"   
  
"It's us," Kan said with a worried frown on his face. The room wasn't that dark.   
  
"Oh, good. All six of you?"   
  
Arthur thought maybe that she couldn't see all of them because they were standing one behind another. "All of us," he said, stepping a little to the side. "How are you feeling?"   
  
"I'm alive! I can't believe it - there's no trace of the disease in my system. David said that Arthur and Heero brought the cure." There was question in her voice, and a broad smile on her face.   
  
"Yes. We found Dr. Ethen and went to him. He has no love for the Alliance, and he managed to fabricate the medicine, just in time," Heero said, slowly walking forward. There was a slightly suspicious edge to his voice as he studied Rina's face.   
  
Arthur was also studying her face, and found his attention drawn to her eyes. Normally they were bright, darting around the room, or fixed on a point in space when she was deep in thought, but now... Now she just stared straight ahead, her eyes not fixing on anything at all. There was no sign of intelligence in them - just nothing. But she sounded all right.   
  
"Hey Rina, what's wrong with your eyes?" Herc asked in his usual flippant manner, but a hint of strain told Arthur that Herc also suspected something.   
  
"They don't seem to be working very well right now," she said slowly, the smile not leaving her face. "Actually, not at all."   
  
Arthur heard a gasp, realized it was himself. "You're blind?" Mike asked softly, begging to be corrected.   
  
Rina nodded. "David thinks it may just be temporary, because of the fever. We'll know in a few weeks."   
  
"Rina," Arthur said, moving closer so that he could touch her hand, the one he had kissed two nights earlier. "I'm sorry."   
  
"For what?" she exclaimed, gripping his hand tightly. She certainly hadn't lost any of her strength. "Arthur, I'm alive! Do you have any idea what that means? I've been waiting to die for almost eight years, half of my life. I never even dreamed that there might be a chance I could survive."   
  
"But, your eyes..." Kan ventured.   
  
"I'm alive!" she repeated. "It may only be temporary, and even if it isn't, people have been going blind for centuries, and they survived. Depending on where the damage is, I can get optics, or I can do without. David is recording the results of my bloodwork on a tape so that I can analyze them. Of course," she added with a slight frown, "that won't work if this is permanent, it's way too slow. I'll have to get something that will speed up the sound, or find another way to read. There's a way to read by touch, I think." She sounded so much like her old self that it made Arthur want to cry, for some reason.   
  
"Braille," Michael spoke up. It was the first thing he'd said since arriving here. "It's called Braille. A system of dots that stands for the letters. I'll find you some information on it and record it."   
  
"Thank you," Rina said, still smiling. Arthur couldn't remember the last time he'd seen her smile this much. "I'll make do, somehow. But I'm alive! I can't believe it!" she exclaimed, and pulled Arthur in for a hug. He stiffened. No one had ever hugged him before, not ever.   
  
Rina felt him stiffen and let go. "What's wrong?" she asked, then said, "Oh! I'm sorry. That was stupid of me. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."   
  
"No," Arthur said firmly. "That's all right. You just caught me by surprise."   
Very, very carefully, he hugged her back.   
  
"Hey, is Arthur the only one who gets to have some fun?" Herc demanded. Laughing, Rina hugged him too. Kan and Michael (who was the most reserved of the boys) clearly weren't ready for that, yet, but surprisingly, Heero moved closer and gave her a very awkward, stiff hug.   
  
"I can't thank you guys enough," Rina said, and Arthur saw tears in her blank eyes. "I'm alive!"   
  
  
-----------------   
  
  
The first few weeks passed without anything changing. Rina, still weak from her long convalescence, did learn how to read Braille, and was soon reading it almost as quickly as she had read normal paper. The only thing that she had to be careful of was not to poke holes through the paper by pushing too hard. She insisted that they start sending her files again, so that she could continue her work even though she wasn't yet well enough to return to base. She got very good at reading, memorizing, and then destroying all of the material they sent her, so that there still was no evidence left. The boys came out almost every night, or at least one of them did, to keep her company and to give her a first-hand account of what was happening among the Rebels. During this time Arthur finally finished making the changes he'd proposed months earlier to the satellites' systems, so that the manual override was nonfunctional. No one in the Alliance noticed.   
  
On his night to visit Rina, Arthur snuck into her house and walked to her room. She kept it dark most of the time, not bothering to turn on the lights because they did nothing for her. Arthur, however, needed the light, so he flicked them on as he entered the room. Rina's head suddenly shot up, and she turned her head back and forth. "Who is that?" she asked, a familiar intensity in her voice.   
  
"It's me," Arthur said, wondering at her actions.   
  
"Did you just turn on the lights?" she asked.   
  
"Yes. How did you..."   
  
"Turn them off again," she ordered, and he did so. "Now turn them on, but don't tell me when you do it."   
  
Arthur waited several seconds, then flicked the lights back on. Rina turned her head back and forth again, blinking furiously. "You just turned them on!" she exclaimed.   
  
"Is your eyesight coming back?" he asked.   
  
"I don't know, all I can see is gray, but I can tell when you turn the lights on and off. It may be a start."   
  
Now Arthur knew how Krace had felt when he said that he couldn't hope, not yet. The disappointment would be too great if this wasn't what they thought it was. But there was a chance...   
  
  
-------------   
  
  
Richard Ethen finished making tea and set out the cups on the low table in his garden. Then someone behind him cleared their throat. He spun, almost knocking over the table, and saw a figure in a dark jumpsuit and mask. "Oh, it's you. Don't do that, you'll give me a heart attack." He paused. They hadn't come wearing masks since the first day, and they always came together. "How is the girl? Did she survive?"   
  
"I came to thank you for saving my life," said a soft voice, and the figure pulled off it's mask, revealing a girl's face beneath it, with long white hair done in a braid that tucked away under the mask. The girl was very pretty, beautiful even, with a thin body that hinted at womanhood, now that he looked for it. But the most amazing thing was that he realized that he knew her.   
  
"You're Rina Krace!" he blurted out.   
  
"I am. But I also go by the name Phoenix nowadays. Hiro and Arthur told me that you made the medicine that cured me. I wanted to thank you."   
  
"It's no more than I had to do - it was my fault you were ill in the first place - I designed the virus."   
  
She shook her head. "We're making it a policy of forgiving any deeds done by Alliance members before they joined the Rebels, if they join of their own free will. What you did in the past doesn't matter as much as what you've done now, and now you saved my life. Thank you."   
  
"You're welcome," he replied, flustered. "Would you like something to drink?" He gestured to the waiting cups. "Some tea?"   
  
"Certainly, but I can't stay long. I'm having a sixteenth birthday party in a couple of days, and I have to make sure everything is ready." She seated herself in the second chair, crossing her legs demurely.   
  
"Of course," he said, pouring some tea, and noticing her impeccable manners. It was fascinating, the way she could just switch personalities and go from being a dangerous commando to the host of a brunch in seconds. "I'd love to discuss with you some of your interests, the way you think," he said. "We always thought that the boys would be different from the girls, but then they told us they'd killed you..."   
  
"You and Dr. Smith?" she asked, sipping the tea.   
  
"Yes, Karen and I."   
  
"How did you think the girls would be different? Did you design us differently?"   
  
"No, you were designed exactly the same, but there are things buried deep inside genes that even we can't manipulate. You might call it instinct, but it's a learned behavior, slowly integrated into the genetic structure over thousands of years. For thousands of years, women have been physically weaker than men. In order to compensate, they've learned a variety of tricks involving intrigue, power shifts, all sorts of things. In designing you, we eliminated the factor that had caused the compensation - you are as strong physically as any human, male or female, including the boys we designed - but we didn't, couldn't remove the compensation itself. We weren't sure how it would affect the girls, but we always thought they'd be more devious, more thorough in the researching and follow-up of missions. I doubt, thinking about it now, that the boys would have covered themselves as well as you must have, to survive this long. The ability is in them, but some of the steps you took would never have occurred to them. Am I right?"   
  
"I don't know," she replied. "It could be - I never thought to look for differences between our behavior because of sex. I always assumed any differences were because of the way I was raised."   
  
"It would be hard to tell, in that case," he said, disappointed that he wouldn't find out the answer to his question. "Dr. Yirtz never agreed with our..." he broke off, paling as he remembered something. "Oh, no! You have to get out of here!"   
  
"Why?" she asked, immediately setting down her cup and pulling the mask back over her head.   
  
"Because he's coming here! Today! I completely forgot, he'll be here any minute! You've got to get out of here before he arrives!" Yirtz made it a practice of coming out to the prison every couple of months in order to offer his onetime partner 'companionship' and 'sympathy'. It was Richard's opinion that Yirtz did it just to torment him.   
  
She cast a frightened glance at him, then disappeared into the bushes, running cross-country to cut down the time it would take her to reach the one air-hatch, where she would have to put on the vacuum-suit and get to her shuttle before the second shuttle arrived. He could have killed himself for his mistake, and suddenly realized that was probably what he would do if they caught her because of his stupidity. He didn't think he could live with the fact that he'd caused her even more pain than she'd already suffered.   
  
He waited two minutes, then three. Approximately eight minutes after she disappeared through the bushes, Yirtz came strolling down the path in the presence of two armed guards. "Hello, Rich!" he shouted in greeting, knowing how Richard hated to be called 'Rich'.   
  
"Oh, so the Alliance hasn't killed you yet, have they?" Richard responded as he always did. He clenched his hands together in his lap to keep them from trembling. It looked as if she'd made it away without attracting their notice.   
  
"Of course not! Why on Earth would they kill the successful one?" Yirtz snapped.   
  
"Anything wrong?" he asked innocently as Yirtz seated himself in the chair she had just recently vacated.   
  
"Oh, it's you!" Yirtz exclaimed disgustedly. "Rotting away in this place! It's such a waste, and every time I see you, you just get older and more feeble..." He waved a hand dismissively towards Richard, who struggled against the anger the words provoked in him. "And every time I see you, it's the same. You've got the same two cups set out, I sit down, and you... you endlessly polite failure, you ask me if I'd like some tea, and..." Yirtz suddenly cut himself off, staring at the cups. "You've already been drinking," he said suspiciously. "And there's tea in my cup, too, and it's cold. Whom have you been drinking tea with?"   
  
"Maybe I just got thirsty, waiting for you," Richard said coldly, but his heart was beating so rapidly he thought it would leap out of his chest.   
  
"No! There has been someone here! Didn't you say you caught a blip on the sensors as we pulled up?" Yirtz demanded of one of his guards, who nodded. "Who was it?!" he demanded, an excited smile on his face. Like a shark who's smelled blood, Richard thought, his own blood running cold. It didn't matter what he said now, Yirtz would bring him back to the base to be interrogated, and then the girl's secret would be out.   
  
"I'll go get some more tea," he said stiffly, standing up.   
  
For a moment Yirtz looked outraged, then he sat back and smiled. "Yes, you do that, Rich.," he said sweetly. "But know that when we're done with tea, you're coming back with us, and then I'm going to find out who you were entertaining here."   
  
Richard glared at him furiously, wracking his brain for some way to get out of this. Suddenly something occurred to him. He turned and started walking into his garden. "Let him go," he heard Yirtz say. "There's no where for him to run. He can't escape."   
  
Richard thought, still walking, moving closer and closer to the outside wall. He stumbled once, righted himself, and kept on walking. What was the life of one old man when compared to the Phoenix, when compared to Rina? She was the most beautiful, perhaps the only beautiful thing he'd ever created in his career as a scientist. He couldn't just tamely submit and go with them - that would lead to her destruction.   
  
He'd almost reached the wall when they realized what he was trying to do. A stun bolt hit the ground near his feet. "Freeze! Don't move a centimeter!" one of the guards shouted. Richard tried to run the last few meters to the wall, but he was old and couldn't get much speed. A stun blast hit him from the back, knocking him down less than a meter from the wall. His hand was stretched out in front of him, trying to reach the wall with the bracelet, so that it would explode and take him with it, but he couldn't quite reach.   
Then the guards reached him and dragged him back towards the airlock. He struggled, and they shot him with another stun bolt. As he drifted out of consciousness he heard the beating of his own heart, the roaring of blood in his ears. he thought hopelessly, and everything went black.   
  
  
--------------   
  
  
{TRANSCRIPT OF DIALOGUE FROM BASE 001   
STATUS: SECURITY LEVEL 1   
DATE: 20.12.22   
TOPIC: IDENTITY OF THE PHOENIX   
  
  
A: What do you look so pleased about?   
  
  
B: I have some news that ought to please you and your superiors.   
  
  
A: Unless your news is that you've managed to eliminate all the Rebels in Alpha, I don't think they'll be interested, and neither am I. I thought that I made it clear in our last communication that I no longer have anything to do with you. You're testing my patience.   
  
  
B: You made it eminently clear, sir, but this does concern both you and Project Titan.   
  
  
A: All right, I'm listening. What is it?   
  
  
B: I have the Phoenix.   
  
  
A: You've captured the Phoenix?! Impossible.   
  
  
B: I haven't captured the Phoenix yet, but now I know their identity. And the Phoenix is one of our creations.   
  
  
A: What? You mean they were operating against the Alliance while they were still working for us?! Was it One?   
  
  
B: Not at all. All of ours were loyal.   
  
  
A: But you just said...   
  
  
B: I said that we created it, not that it was one of ours. It got away from us, and this involves a cover-up at the highest levels. Think your superiors will be interested now?   
  
  
A: Start talking.}


	17. Part 16

Rina hurriedly gathered her long hair into a bun on top of her head, pinning it in place and wrapping a long ribbon around it. It was a well-known and accepted fact of Rina Krace's life than most events that should have been private celebrations always turned into gala events, where her father invited more guests then she did and party always turned into a political gathering. Rina Krace understood this and accepted it, but that didn't mean she had to like it.   
  
She paused once more in front of the mirror to check her appearance. Her hair looked fine despite the haste in its preparation, her makeup wasn't smudged, and the new dress looked great. Rina smiled at the mirror, pleased that she was finally beginning to have a feminine shape, something she'd never expected to live long enough to see. Then she took off at a run down the stairs, the folds of the knee-length dress whipping around her legs. She pulled herself to a halt just at the top of the last flight of stairs, composed herself, and walked down the last steps at a sedate pace. There was polite applause as she was announced - this was, after all, nominally her sixteenth birthday party. Rina smiled into the lights of the ever-present cameras, then took her father's arm and gently kissed him on the cheek. A half-dozen flashbulbs went off, and Rina whispered, "I know it's selfish of me, but I can't wait until this is all over and we can have a real celebration."   
  
"My thoughts exactly," her father said, and she pulled away, walking to the nearest knot of children. Some of them she'd even invited for herself, as her friends. If she had to be surrounded by children for the rest of the evening, they might as well be people she liked. One of those present was Julia Surd, the daughter of the Representative who had been assassinated almost six years ago. Julia was now eighteen, and moving towards the position her father had occupied. She had the same views as him, too, a fact that worried Rina, since it might make her the target of more Alliance assassins.   
  
She passed away the first several hours in small talk, then started making the rounds with her father, allowing him to introduce her to all of the important guests. Rina smiled at all of them, even the Alliance officers who came, never revealing that, as the Phoenix, she would gladly order their deaths for the suffering they'd caused. Now she was just an innocent girl helping her father do 'important work.'   
  
As they passed by a young officer, just freshly promoted, Rina noticed a slight bulge under the back of his dress uniform, and a chill ran down her spine. After she returned, she'd told the others about her close call, and Arthur and Heero decided to go back out there, to see if they could get the doctor out of his prison. It wasn't just that it was dangerous to have him in the Alliance's hands now that he knew who she was; he was a good man who didn't deserve to be locked up by himself like that. He could do a lot of good in Refuge, and he'd definitely be happier there. Rina swallowed as the truth occurred to her. Rina's hands trembled as she thought about what they had probably done to him, but she pushed the thoughts aside. She was in grave danger of having the same thing happen to her.   
  
She drifted through the crowd to stand next to Patricia. "There's going to be trouble. They know who I am."   
  
Patricia paled, although her expression didn't change. "Then you have to get out of here!"   
"I can't - I'm too noticeable, and besides, they've got to have all of the exits covered. Pat, I need you to do me a favor. I want you to go upstairs to my room, my other room, and make sure there's nothing there for them to find if they do search this house. I don't think I've left anything, but I want you to make sure - open up the computer and smash the insides, if you have to. Then I want you to spread the word to the others - if something happens, don't stay and try to protect me, I want you to run. If they catch me they'll keep me alive for a while, but they'll kill you to set an example. Get word to the others about what happened."   
  
"Mistress..."   
  
"I'll be fine. I have a few tricks they don't know about." That was a lie. In order to protect her father, Rina had done nothing to the house that might leave evidence of what she did. So while her father was completely clean, there was nothing in the house that could help her - she probably couldn't even get to her gun. she thought slowly, that horrible calmness coming over her. There wasn't time to call for help - she could reach the base in under an hour, but for anyone else it would take longer, and only then if they ran straight there, and anyone she sent was sure to be followed. The lines of communication she'd set up took a long time to get there, too.   
  
The fact that she was going to get captured was a given, now what could she do to minimize damage? Sending the rest of the household away was a good start. She could kill herself. Intellectually, Rina knew that this was probably the wisest course, to silence herself before they could try to force information out of her, but since she so recently escaped death, she couldn't bring herself to do it. I didn't get my life back only to have the Alliance immediately take it away. She decided to save that option for a last resort. They couldn't take her father - there was no evidence at all to arrest him, and Heero and the others would protect him from assassins.   
  
Out of the corner of her eye Rina watched Patricia climbing the stairs to her room. Rina then looked across the room, at her father. What should she tell him? Rina, still stuck in that emotionless condition, decided to wait. Her father was a horrible actor, and if she told him he would immediately give it away in his face. She would wait until after Patricia's errand was complete, then she'd explain what she had to do.   
  
-----------   
  
One hour passed, and then another, while Rina fought to maintain a calm exterior. This was like slow torture, being able to see what was coming and not being able to prevent it. Patricia finished her errand, and then told the rest of the household. Rina managed to pull her father into a quiet corner and explain to him what was going to happen, and what he had to do in order to remain free. As she had expected, he protested and was ready to do something foolish that would get him killed, but she stopped him and managed to convince him that there was no other way, that many more people were going to die if he didn't help save himself. Then the waiting started again, as Rina struggled to control the terror that threatened to overwhelm her.   
  
Finally she couldn't wait for the party to end - she had to go see if there was any way for her to get out. She walked upstairs and peered out the bedroom window, and saw, in the distance, the end of a blaster shining in the moonlight. A sense of hopelessness settled over her, and as she closed the curtain she wondered again if she should kill herself. I should, but I just can't, not after all I've been through. It's my major weakness, my love of life, and it's going to be my destruction, and that of the others, too. Before she went back downstairs, Rina retrieved her blaster, strapped it to her thigh, under the dress, and burned the mask and jumpsuit in the self-contained fireplace. Now the only thing left that could tie her to the Rebels was on her person. She walked back down to the party. It would be over soon, the cameramen were packing up. Once they were gone, they Alliance would strike.   
  
Rina gently crossed her arms and leaned against a column, where she could see the entire room through half-closed eyes. She noticed sudden movement among the elite agents, and a slight frown passed across her face. They couldn't be moving now, not while all of the people and cameras were still around... They didn't want this on the news, did they? Rina couldn't believe they would be that stupid, but just in case, she let her hand drift down near her thigh, where she could grab the gun in less than a second if she needed to.   
  
"Rina, are you all right?" Julia asked, making Rina jump. She and several other kids had walked over while Rina was watching the agents.   
  
"Yes, of course, why wouldn't I be?" Rina murmured, trying to keep her eyes on everyone in the room at once.   
  
"Well, for one thing, you look as if you're here for a funeral instead of a party. Try smiling a little, this is your day!"   
  
Right on cue, fifteen agents and five officers pulled guns out of hidden holsters and pointed them at her. "Freeze!" several of them shouted. Julia and the others screamed and ducked their heads, leaving only Rina in range. "You are under arrest for high treason against the Alliance!"   
  
Julia was the first to raise her head, and she immediately climbed to her feet, placing herself in front of Rina. "What do you think you're doing?!" she demanded. "Don't you know who she is?"   
  
"Get out of the line of fire!" shouted the agent she'd confronted, and he shoved her to the floor. That was the opening Rina was looking for. As Julia fell to the ground, out of Rina's line of fire, Rina drew her gun and shot the man who had shoved Julia in his throat, where his armor didn't protect him. She killed two more agents before they realized what she was doing. By then Rina had jumped over the nearest table, overturning it for the meager protection it provided, while the guests screamed and stumbled to get out of the way. Several holes emerged from the table beside her, and one hit her upper right arm, tearing a hole through the muscle but missing the bone. Rina bit back a scream as the pain hit her. She was lucky that they only hit her arm.   
  
Then she heard a step behind her, turned and killed the agent who had snuck up behind her. She stood up behind the table and killed another agent as he tried to move around her to get beyond the barrier the table provided. The agents still weren't trying to take cover, so she shot four more as they tried to regroup. By then several agents were moving to flanking positions, and Rina's options were running short. She looked around, shot two more, then jumped straight up to the second floor, grabbing onto the banister and trying to pull herself over. She'd almost made it when another bullet hit her right leg. All the muscles went limp for a moment, then the pain hit her a second before her leg gave out from under her, pitching her back to the ground floor. Rina tried to grab the banister, but her injured arm wasn't up to it and she hit the ground hard, the impact momentarily stunning her.   
  
By the time she got back to her feet, putting all of her weight on her uninjured leg, they had her surrounded, and she'd dropped her gun when she fell. she thought as they slowly advanced.   
  
They didn't bother ordering her to freeze again; this time four agents tackled her while the remaining five watched her with their guns held ready. She'd been lucky to get as many of them as she had, considering the circumstances. Rina managed to hold back another scream when one of the agents landed heavily on her leg, but couldn't hold back the cry when they twisted her arms behind her back to cuff them, ignoring the wound in her arm. They quickly tied her legs together with some sort of plastic wires, then pulled her off the ground, supporting her by her arms so that she couldn't gain any leverage.   
  
"My God," one of the survivors muttered. "They're all dead. What kind of monster is she?"   
  
Aware that there were TV cameras rolling, Rina muttered, just loud enough for them to hear her, "I'm exactly what the Alliance made me."   
  
"Shut up!" one of them snarled, and punched her in the stomach, inciting angry murmurs from the crowd and pleased smiles from the camera crews.   
  
"Get back!" another shouted, raising his gun to point it at the crowd. With her face hidden by the hair that had fallen out of her bun, Rina smiled grimly. The Alliance needed to work on training it's people for public relations - threatening a large group of very important and/or wealthy colonists was not the way to earn the trust of the populace.   
  
"Rina!"   
  
Rina managed not to wince at the pain in her father's voice. He had to play his part here to remain safe. She forced herself not to look at his eyes.   
  
"Rina! What are you doing? What have you done?" he asked, his voice pleading.   
  
"I'm sorry, Father," Rina said in a sulky voice. "I should have told you."   
  
"Rina, what have you done?" he repeated, weariness and fear working their way into his voice.   
  
"I joined the Rebels, Father, last year. I never meant to cause you any grief, but the Alliance has to be stopped!" she said, her voice rising with every word. She sounded just like a desperate, frightened, dedicated teenage freedom fighter who was in way over her head. And the cameras were recording every word she said. "They're destroying the colonies, they're killing innocent civilians, they're..." Rina allowed her voice to be cut off as they punched her in the stomach again.   
  
"Silence," the man ordered. He looked around at the guests, as if only now realizing the scene they were making. "Get her out of here," he directed, and they carried her out of the house and into a waiting shuttle, where she was strapped to a bed with heavy cords that even she couldn't break. As one of the men prepared a hypospray to inject her with something, Rina fought to control her face, to control herself. She couldn't lose control now - she had to figure out what she was going to do next. The alternative she had shied away from just hours before suddenly didn't seem so drastic.   
  
As the drugs started to take effect, Rina repeated to herself, over and over, that no matter what, she couldn't let them get at the information stored in her brain. But at the last moment before she lost consciousness, the emotions and feelings she had been pushing aside came back, and she silently cried out in fear and pain.   
  
-------------   
  
Arthur was reviewing the circuits that were used in the bracelets that convicted criminals wore. He'd never had reason to study them before, but now that he did, he found that it would be possible to disarm the device and free Dr. Ethen. It wouldn't be easy, but it would be possible, with the right tools. They could do it in a few weeks. Maybe Rina would want to come, after she got back from her birthday party. Actually, it was all of their birthdays. Rina had mentioned something about a birthday party when she got to base. That was a strange thought - they'd never celebrated anything when they were with the Alliance, much less their birthdays. Only humans did things like that. They'd been with Rina for their fifteenth birthday, but that was right after Herc and Kan came over. Back then few of the Rebels trusted them, and Kan was still treating Rina like some sort of royalty... and, of course, then Rina had been dying. They hadn't known it, but she had, so it was logical that she didn't feel like celebrating, and they never noticed the lack.   
  
This year it was different. Now they had a reason to celebrate, and the other Rebels knew them well enough that they wouldn't begrudge them a few hours, if Heero would actually take that long. Arthur rather suspected he would. He'd mellowed even further after Rina's recovery, although it was still hard to tell. Arthur couldn't wait for the party at Rina's house to finish. After everyone was gone they were going over there with Mike for a private celebration.   
  
He'd almost finished when a chill ran down his spine. Without knowing why, he stood up and walked to the door of the room he and the other four shared. They'd discovered that they were still more comfortable living together, after all the years they'd spent together with the Alliance.   
  
As the door opened, he heard some commotion in the hall, and his pulse quickened. His hand automatically went to his gun, currently strapped to his thigh, but somehow he knew that the danger wasn't here. The base wasn't under attack, so what was the problem? Triss came running down the hall, tears in her eyes. "Arthur!" she shouted when she saw him. "Oh God..."   
  
"What's happened?" he demanded, feeling an icy chill in his stomach. "What's going on?"   
  
"Go and see the news broadcast," she told him, shaking her head.   
  
Arthur cast a frightened look at her, then took off to the communications room as fast as he could. He saw startled looks on the faces of some of the people he passed, but ignored them. Just outside the communications room was a small crowd of people, all grim-faced. They parted to let him pass, and he stepped into the room. The attention of everyone there was focused on the main holographic projector, which was displaying an image of... Rina.   
  
Rina, slumped in the hands of Alliance soldiers.   
  
For a moment time seemed to stop entirely. Then Arthur got control of himself. He was the first of the five to arrive. "What happened?" he asked coldly. Tears formed in his eyes but he wiped them away and asked again. "Someone tell me what happened."   
  
Brandon got his voice back first. "They caught her. While she was at her birthday party. She's being charged with treason, and has already been taken to their main base. We're trying to find out more, but information is sketchy at best."   
  
Arthur nodded to let them know that he'd heard, then had to turn his head away as he thought the pain would overwhelm him. It might as well be Earth, it would be easier to get her back from there. There would be no rescue attempt, because no one knew where she was. She was as good as dead.   
  
he told himself, struggling to bring his emotions under control as Michael arrived. "Where did we get this image from?" he demanded, pointing at the hologram. He heard Michael gasp when he saw the image. Arthur glanced at him. Except for a slightly opened mouth, there was no indication on his face that anything was out of order, but even that little change told him a lot.   
  
"It's being broadcast on all of the major channels," someone told him, and replayed the short scene where Rina managed to get out a propaganda message even as she was taken away. It was skillfully done, and the logical part of his mind admired what she'd been able to come up with on such short notice. The emotional part was still screaming in anguish.   
  
"All right. We need to get some people in the stations. If they're broadcasting this, we need to know what they kept back from the population. His eyes fixed on Gene, one of Rina's top aides. "Do it. And clear this room of everyone except for security and the Circle," he instructed.   
  
Gene nodded and disappeared as Brandon started ushering people out. Arthur stared at the image again, horrified with himself that he would be able to continue thinking of such logical things when Rina had been captured, but it was unavoidable. The other three were all out in the colony, taking care of various business, and now Rina wouldn't be here to give orders. Things had to be done. "Brandon, you're going to need to change all of the passwords. On everything. Immediately."   
  
Brandon nodded, but one of *his* assistants asked, "Why?"   
  
Arthur glanced around, but saw that the room had been cleared of everyone except himself, Michael, the inner circle, and Brandon's people. "Because she is the Phoenix," he told the young man, whose jaw dropped open. "Brandon will tell you everything you need to know, but now the Alliance has the Phoenix. They're going to try to break her, and she knows all of our access codes, the location of all of our weapons... everything. We've got to move before they can break her. Do you understand?"   
  
The man nodded, looking terrified, not that Arthur blamed him. What had just happened could easily mean the end of the Rebels, and Refuge too. What in the universe could they do to hide Refuge? Nothing, and he knew it. They could change the access codes, but that was about it. There was no way they could defend Refuge against a concentrated attack. As soon as Rina broke, Refuge was doomed, unless they could figure out something else.   
  
Michael glanced at him, and Arthur knew that he was thinking the exact same thing. But thoughts like that could wait, at least for now. "We've got to start moving," he said to the assembled. "Every base we have has got to be moved, and we've got to destroy what's left. We should have some time - Rina will resist, but we've got to move *now*." He looked around the circle of people, seeing pain and loss on most faces, but also grim determination. Rina would resist, they all knew that. She'd be suffering longer in order to buy them some time, it was up to them to make sure they used that time well.   
  
Arthur glanced at Michael to see if there was anything he'd forgotten. Because he'd been the first on the scene, he was temporarily in command, at least until Heero could be recalled. That reminded him. "Send out a bulletin to all our people in the field, as many as we can safely reach. We'll need every available person to help. And we need Heero back."   
  
As he said the words, it finally hit him that they probably wouldn't get Rina back. The advisors started moving out of the room to perform their tasks. Someone had to coordinate them, but it was then that Arthur finally lost control. He started sobbing, but luckily it wasn't recognizable as such to the advisors as they moved out of the room. To them it looked like some sort of coughing fit, but Michael knew what it was. He paused as he also headed out and touched Arthur's shoulder. "We'll talk later, and I can get you a few minutes now, but we need you."   
  
Arthur nodded gratefully, then sat in the silent room for a full minute, crying. Then he got control. He shut off the holographic imager so he wouldn't have to look at Rina's face anymore, and went back outside. Almost immediately people were approaching him with issues that had to be dealt with. He did the best he could, knowing it wasn't working as smoothly as it could, because he wasn't Rina or Heero, the two people who'd been in command for the past four years. He awaited Heero's return with an ache in his heart. They needed Hiro back, because they had to replace the Phoenix.   
  
  
--------------   
  
  
Chancellor Cambel was in a foul mood when he called Director Yirtz to his office. What could the man have been thinking, ordering a strike of that magnitude without proper authorization? Besides that, he'd bungled the job. There were pictures on every station of that damned girl crying out her pitiful message as the Alliance soldiers brutalized her. No Rebel, no matter how prominent in society, was worth that kind of exposure. In one night they'd done more damage to the Alliance's image than over fifty years of occupation! There was more support for the Rebels than ever before, thanks to this mess. The man was just becoming too costly to keep around, first losing his project, and now this!   
  
Director Yirtz was waiting in his office when Cambel arrived. "Director Yirtz," Cambel said slowly, determined not to start screaming. "How do you explain this?" he asked, turning on the television in his office. Of course, there was a picture of the girl on the screen. "You've set the Alliance's propaganda movement back years, thanks to your reckless action. And for what? One little girl? In all likelihood, her only value to the Rebels was as a celebrity figure who supported them, and a weak one at that! You're martyring her, and it makes her even more valuable to the Rebels, and does nothing for us!"   
  
"Do any of the newscasts mention that she killed eleven of our men before they captured her?" Yirtz asked, tilting his head to look at the screen.   
  
"She what?" Cambel asked, muting the image.   
  
"Oh, good. We worked very hard to cover that up, to make sure that didn't make it into the news. Yes, Chancellor. That little girl, as you called her, killed eleven highly skilled agents and almost escaped, despite the fact that they were wearing armor and she was caught off-guard during her sixteenth birthday party."   
  
Cambel sat at his desk. Yirtz was a slimy back-stabbing weasel, but he wasn't stupid, and he was obviously going somewhere with this. "How? Who is she?"   
  
"She is the Phoenix."   
  
"What?! Have you lost your mind?!" he exclaimed, quickly reversing his previous opinion that Yirtz wasn't stupid.   
  
"I have not," Yirtz said smugly. "Watch. This is the whole unedited footage from her capture - the parts that we managed to keep out of the public's eye." He pushed a button on the remote, and a darker image appeared. "They had begun to put away their things, including the lighting," Yirtz explained. "It gets better in a moment."   
  
Cambel waved a hand for silence as the image played out. Over a dozen men pulled guns on the girl, then another girl stepped in front of her for a moment. An agent pushed her out of the way - and was almost immediately shot in the throat. Cambel stopped the image and rewound it, going back over it again in slow motion. Even so he could barely catch the lightening-fast movement as she raised the gun from behind her leg and fired. The tape resumed normal speed, and he watched, hardly daring to blink, as she shot two more agents, then dove over a table and upended it, giving herself some protection as the agents opened fire.   
  
At one point Yirtz stopped the tape, pointing to the table. "We've ascertained that this shot penetrated the table and passed through her right arm. As you can see," he said, restarting the tape just in time for her to shoot another agent who'd made it to the table. "It didn't affect her efficiency." Then she stood partway up, still using the table for cover, and shot four more agents, this time with her left arm. Then... Cambel blinked... she jumped straight up to the second floor and started climbing over the banister. There were more shots fired, and one of them hit her in the leg, causing her to fall back to the first floor. Even then she managed to stand up, until four agents tackled her and tied her up.   
  
Then came the words that Cambel had been hearing over and over and over again. "I am what the Alliance made me... I'm sorry, Father, I joined the Rebels..." He turned off the picture.   
  
"How is this possible?"   
  
"There was a double-meaning behind her words," Yirtz said, smiling. "Most people take her first statement to mean that the Alliance created her through their cruelty, made it necessary for the Rebels to exist. What she actually meant was quite literal."   
Cambel was missing something. "Where have you put her?"   
  
"I put her back in wing 56, room 4. It's in the area we originally intended for Project Titan, before we moved it off-base. Quite fitting, actually."   
  
"Why?"   
  
"I told you, she was being literal when she said that the Alliance created her. We did - she is also one of the creations from Project Titan."   
  
"You told me that there were only five subjects, all male."   
  
"I was mistaken. There were actually ten subjects, five male, five female. You will remember that one of my colleagues who worked on the project was executed?"   
  
"Yes." It had been before Cambel's time as Chancellor, but he'd read a file on it.   
  
"The matter was covered up, but she was executed because she changed five of the fetuses from male to female. Your predecessor only wanted males, so the females were ordered disposed of. Someone uninvolved with the project who knew nothing of their capabilities injected the five females with a virus that would kill them when they reached puberty, and gave them to an orphanage, not realizing how dangerous they'd be from day one. Our people soon noticed the mistake, but not until after one of the babies was adopted, by Ambassador Jules Krace. The other four were eliminated, but the failure to eliminate the fifth was also covered up, so that we did not realize that one had escaped."   
  
Cambel sat back, astonished by the implications of what he was being told. "And she..."   
  
"Even raised as a human, there were differences that would make it impossible for her to fit in as a real human. Her mind was already fully developed by the time she was born, and by the time she was five her physical strength surpassed any human's, just like in our five. We're not sure exactly when or how it happened, but she got involved with the Rebels, and in a few years, rose to a leadership position, calling herself the Phoenix."   
  
"The Phoenix has already been around for four years. You're telling me that she's been the leader of the Rebels since she was twelve?"   
  
Yirtz nodded excitedly. "And she worked with them for years before that, feeding them information she got from our own computer system. She is the one who captured and then twisted the minds of our creations, turning them against us. We even know why - the virus."   
  
"The virus?" Cambel repeated, then remembered Yirtz's earlier comment. "I remember. Continue."   
  
"She apparently discovered the virus when she was eight, and knew that she would die. She captured our five because she didn't want the Rebels to falter after she died. She has been taking hormonal suppressants for years to extend her life, but several months ago it finally caught up with her. It should have killed her, but for one person - Richard Ethens."   
  
Cambel frowned, trying to recall where he'd seen that name. "He was...?"   
  
"An unwilling participant in Project Titan, who, incidentally, designed the virus that was killing her. Two of our creations went to him for help, and he managed to create an antidote to the virus, saving her life."   
  
"How did you find all of this out?" Cambel asked suspiciously. Yirtz was enjoying himself far too much here - the man truly was disturbed, but still useful, as he was proving today.   
  
"That's the beautiful part. After regaining health, the Phoenix - Rina Krace - visited Richard to thank him. The visit happened to be on the day I visited Richard. I noticed some oddities in his behavior, and when I suggested that I bring him here for questioning, he attempted to kill himself. I brought him back here, and I got the entire story out of him."   
  
"Well done," Cambel said, standing up. "And now we hold the Phoenix. Show me where you're holding her."   
  
"I have a video link set up." Yirtz turned it on. Cambel saw the girl... the Phoenix, sitting against the wall in a featureless all-white room with bright lights shining down on her. She was dressed in a white jumpsuit with no sleeves and short legs. Her arms were sheathed from her wrists to an inch or two below her elbows in smooth metal cuffs. Cambel recognized the design - they were held together magnetically, forcing her to keep her elbows close together in front of her. If she was very strong she might be able to twist them sideways a little, but she'd never be able to separate them. At least that's what he thought - she was a product of Project Titan. "The cuffs will hold her," Yirtz said, anticipating the question. "I've made sure of it." There were manacles locked around her ankles that attached to the wall, and Cambel saw a bandage wrapped around her right arm, above the elbow. She sat with her head down so that her face was hidden from the camera, not moving, hardly breathing. She didn't look like the person who had orchestrated so many successful and ruthless attacks against the Alliance - she looked like a weary prisoner, and a child at that.   
  
"You're sure that she's from Project Titan?"   
  
"Positive," Yirtz told him. "We took a blood sample and did an analysis. There's no doubt - she's our creation."   
  
"Bring her to me," Cambel ordered. "I want to meet the Phoenix for myself before we break her."   
  
  
-------------   
  
  
Rina sat with her back against the wall. She'd positioned herself so that the camera couldn't see her face, but it seemed a minor victory at best. They'd taken the bullet out of her leg and wrapped both wounds in bandages, but done nothing else. Not that she was going to get sick, but the fact that they knew that meant that they knew a lot about her, and that was troubling. Her arm hurt, her leg hurt, most of her body hurt from the pummeling they'd given her, and that was the least of her worries. They were going to try to break her, to force her to give them information. She knew enough about the Rebels to break the entire organization, and worse than that, she knew about Refuge. If they found out about the place they'd sterilize it.   
  
She knew that, even as she sat here, the others were probably moving the Rebels' bases, so that, if she did break, their losses wouldn't be as great. But there was nothing they could do about Refuge.   
  
Arthur had described Alliance interrogation techniques to her. In a short, flat voice he'd described what he used to do to prisoners to make them break. Many of the techniques she'd read about or used, but there were many more that the Alliance had dreamed up on it's own. This featureless room with bright lights that dazzled the eyes even when they were closed was just the beginning. It was going to get worse from here.   
  
Rina thought that she could resist their techniques, at least for a while. But any mind, given enough time, can be defeated. Rina knew her time would be longer than most, but sooner or later she was going to break, and then it would be all over. I should have killed myself when I had the chance. She had known at the time that it was the best decision - why hadn't she done it? You'd think after waiting to die for eight years she would have gotten over her fear of death. But in a way, that was the problem. She hadn't died, she'd been given a second chance, and now her life was more precious to her than ever. It was her weakness, and she hadn't been able to kill herself because of it. she thought, ignoring the way her body rebelled at the idea.   
  
The door to her left opened, and Rina forced herself not to turn her head. Instead, she kept her eyes pointing straight forward and watched them enter without moving her pupils. There were five of them, four guards and Yirtz. He was older than in the pictures she'd seen of him, but he was recognizable, and Rina felt a surge of anger and hate inside her breast. This was the man who had done all those terrible things to the boys. If she hadn't known that any attempt would fail, she would have tried to kill him. Then she realized that he was about to do those same terrible things to her, and hid her terror as moments before she'd hidden her anger.   
  
"Look at me, Eight," he said.   
  
Rina continued to stare directly in front of her. Even when Yirtz walked right in front of her, she didn't let her eyes focus on him - she stared right through him.   
  
"I know you're listening to me," he said, stopping just outside the range of the chains that held her to the wall. "I taught the others that behavior, you can't fool me with that. Eight, look at me!" he said more sharply. He took several seconds to visibly get control of himself, then continued in that sugar-sweet voice.   
  
Heero's voice came back to her, "Mem has a cruel streak in him..."   
  
Then Arthur, "He was always at his worst when he sounded nice, that's how I knew when I was about to be punished." Rina hid a shiver.   
  
"I know you're wondering what I'm talking about. We did some research, and found out that you were originally designated Eight, before Command ordered your execution. I bet it gives you a sense of belonging and self to know that."   
  
Rina focused on his face for a second.   
  
"Look at me!" he said again, stomping his foot like a child. "The Chancellor wants to meet with you. Get up." When she didn't move, he said to the guards, "Pick it up and bring it with us."   
  
It took Rina a second to realize that he was talking about her, and even that realization didn't come until the guards started to move closer to her. she thought, furious. As soon as one of the guards moved within her range, Rina stood up and slammed her metal-wrapped arms into his chest as hard as she could. She heard ribs crack as he stumbled backwards, and tried to turn around in time to get the other one closest to her, but the chains around her legs fouled her up and she sat down heavily.   
In the next second the butt of a gun slammed into her jaw, lifting her up and throwing her several feet away, until the length of the chain brought her to a sudden halt. If she'd been human, the impact would have shattered her jaw. As it was, it stunned her for a second, then a dart landed in the floor right in front of her. "Don't move," Yirtz instructed. "You're going, one way or another. If you have to be drugged, so be it, but the Chancellor is very much interested in meeting you with your mind intact, before we break it. It's your choice. If you choose to be drugged, then by all means stand up again." Rina didn't move. She was interested in meeting a man who could order the deaths of thousands of innocent civilians.   
  
Her legs were chained together with less than a foot of chain between the manacles so that she could stand up and not much else. Then Rina let herself go completely limp as they tried to pick her up. They finally stuck their arms under her shoulders and started dragging her through the halls. Rina quietly memorized the path. When they finally got to their destination, the guards threw her to the floor, and a good number of them surrounded her and placed themselves between the man standing behind the desk and her. Rina got a surprise - this was not the man who made the propaganda announcements! Then she could have kicked herself - of course he'd use a stand-in! He was a hated military figure on an occupied world, of course he didn't want people to know what he looked like. Well, now she knew. Of course, that was assuming that this really was the Chancellor and not another stand-in.   
  
"Not much to look at, is she?" he said, walking over.   
  
"It was designed the same as the others," Yirtz, standing over her. "You'll notice that even after the beating it received, there isn't a mark on it except for the bullet wounds."   
  
"It?"   
  
"Well, it certainly isn't human," Yirtz said, while Rina burned with fury. "We designed it, the same as you'd design a gun or any other weapon. That's all it is really, a weapon. A superbly designed and very dangerous weapon, but still, just a weapon. It kills whatever target you point it at."   
  
"And if it starts picking it's own targets?" the Chancellor asked with a slight edge in his voice. Rina noted that edge.   
  
Yirtz didn't respond. He nudged Rina with his foot. "Eight, get up." She didn't move - she wasn't about to cooperate any more than she had to. "I said get up!" He kicked her in the stomach, hard. It took a signal act of will for her not to react to that.   
  
"Is she unconscious?"   
  
"No, it's trying to ignore us. I'll fix the problem, give me that."   
  
Suddenly pain exploded across her back. Even as Rina screamed, her mind turned away from the pain, analyzing what was happening to her. Her body had stiffened when the pain hit her, and it went completely limp when the pain receded. Still she didn't move. The pain hit her again, and then again. Each time she screamed, but by the third time she was mostly faking it, having figured out how to completely shut it off in her brain. As the pain receded for the third time, she started sobbing. "No, please, no more," she gasped between her sobs, tears running down her face. "I'm up."   
  
"See? What did I tell you? Away from our training, it grew weak. None of ours would give in so quickly. On your knees, Eight," Yirtz ordered at the end of his statement. It was difficult with the bands on her arms and the chains on her ankles, but Rina managed to get into a kneeling position, her elbows nearly touching in front of her, her arms resting in her lap, sitting on her heals with the chains digging into her butt. She kept her chin down on her chest and sniffled every now and then for their benefit. Two of the guards moved up behind her and rested their guns on her shoulders, keeping her from rising. Only then did the Chancellor (if that's really who he was) move closer.   
  
"It's hard to believe that this is the Phoenix we've been fighting all these years," he remarked disparagingly. "Let me see your eyes, girl." Rina obediently raised her eyes to look at him. He was a handsome man, and younger than the person who did the propaganda announcements. He was obviously an Earthling, as were most of the members of the Alliance, with dark red-brown hair, blue eyes, and pale skin. He stared at her for a second, then said, "I see nothing there but a frightened child. Either you are gravely mistaken, Yirtz, and she is not who she says she is, or you are gravely mistaken, and she is much more of a fighter than you say she is. Either way, I don't think you really are prepared to handle this." There was definite threat in his voice.   
  
Yirtz apparently heard the threat and winced, but he still said, "Sir, you don't have anyone more qualified than me to handle this. I know more about it than anyone else alive..."   
  
"Except the doctor who cured her," the Chancellor interrupted to point out.   
  
"But he will not do what is necessary to get the information we desire, and I will."   
  
"If she is the Phoenix."   
  
"Oh, she is." Still smiling, Yirtz looked down at her. "Tell him, Eight."   
  
She stared at him with wide, scared eyes. He raised a short metal rod and touched her shoulder. Pain exploded from her shoulder, spreading throughout her body, and the convulsing of her muscles sent her back to the floor. The rod hovered inches from her face as the echoes of her scream died down. "Get on your knees, and tell him what he wants to know."   
  
Rina got back up on the backs of her heels and stared at the ground. "I'm the Phoenix," she said in a voice carefully calculated to sound like a sulky child.   
  
The Chancellor stared at her, then said, "I don't think I believe her. Using methods like that, I believe that she would confess whether it was the truth or not. Do we still have those Rebels we captured a few weeks ago?"   
  
"Yes sir," said one of the guards.   
  
"Bring them here. I want to shoot them."   
  
Rina's head snapped up and for a second she looked the Chancellor right in the eye. Then she realized that it had been a bluff, or at least a trick just to get her attention, and that she'd fallen for it. She immediately shifted tactics, abandoning the pretense that she was a scared little girl. She continued to stare calmly into his eyes until he looked away. "Now that is the Phoenix," he said in a satisfied tone. "Tell me, Phoenix, are you afraid to die?"   
  
"No."   
  
"No?" he seemed surprised by her comment. "Why not?"   
  
"I've been waiting to die for eight years. I've prepared myself. Just because there was a few months delay, do you think my feelings have changed?" she asked evenly, hoping he didn't see through the lie. Ignoring the guns resting on her shoulder, she smoothly rose to her feet.   
  
"On your knees!" Yirtz commanded, and swung the rod at her again.   
  
Rina thought, and ducked to avoid being touched, then she swung her arms at the rod and hit it with the metal cuffs, causing it to fly out of Yirtz's hand and smash into a wall without ever touching her skin. "Don't touch me," she ordered in a low, cold voice to Yirtz, who was staring at her with an expression of astonishment.   
  
The Chancellor started laughing, and Rina stopped herself from shivering again. This man was as bad as Yirtz or worse, because he wasn't openly insane the way Yirtz was, and yet he probably would have ordered the Rebels killed if she hadn't reacted to his words. A casual killer, that's what he was. "Oh, I am so glad I took the time to see you before we break you," he said, still chuckling. "And I am going to enjoy watching it - I wonder if Yirtz can actually do it!"   
  
"Sir!" Yirtz protested angrily, but a raised hand from the Chancellor silenced him.   
  
"Hold her," he said, and the two guards closest to her moved up and grabbed the tops of her arms. Rina winced as one of them grasped her arm where the bandage marked her wound - they had to think she could be affected by pain. He took a few steps closer to her, examining her face. "Tell me," he said to her. "How do you think of yourself? Are you Rina Krace, or are you the Phoenix?"   
  
"I am the Phoenix," Rina lied.   
  
"Interesting. Tell me this, what it was like, growing up isolated from everyone around you? How did it feel when you realized that you weren't human, could never be human?"   
  
Rina forced herself to smile despite the pain, despite the anger she felt. "You're missing the point entirely. Because of how I was designed, I always knew I was different. Before I was four I took steps to investigate my humanity. I was isolated, yes, but I also discovered that I am human. More human, in fact, than either of you." She fell silent, hoping she hadn't told them too much, but she got a great deal of satisfaction over the shocked expression on his face.   
  
It took him several seconds to compose himself. "See that, Yirtz? Look at her. Here is a truly dangerous creature, much more dangerous than anything you created." The look on Yirtz's face showed that he disagreed with that notion. "She has incorporated knowledge of what it means to be human into her other functions. She understands humans, and can manipulate them, even if she still isn't one of them." Rina hid her anger at the comment that she knew had to be directed at her, although there was nothing in his manner to suggest that. "That's something even you were unable to teach the others. She is a more complete weapon then they were. Get her away from me now. I never want to see her again, and I most certainly never want to speak to her again, is that understood?"   
  
"Yes sir," Yirtz murmured, sounding subdued.   
  
And with that, Rina was partially dragged, partially carried back to the cell where they kept her before.


	18. Part 17

Julia Surd's hand shook slightly as she rank the doorbell to Rina's house. Her mother had advised against her coming here, as had the butler who drove her here, but she had to. She had to know what had really happened to Rina, who had been her friend, despite the fact that the other girl was two years younger. It took several minutes before the door was opened, and then it was by Ambassador Krace himself. Julia looked around as she stepped inside, searching for Lance, the butler who usually opened the door. She saw no one. "Where's Lance?"   
  
"I'm not certain. The Alliance started arresting my servants, for questioning, and they all disappeared," Mr. Krace said, rubbing the back of his neck wearily. Julia took a closer look at him. He looked terrible - he hadn't shaved in the several days since Rina had been captured, and he didn't look like he'd slept since then either. "Julia, you shouldn't be here. Anyone who's exposed to me is in danger. The Alliance hasn't arrested me yet, but they could any day now."   
  
"I need to talk with you about Rina, and I didn't want to do it over the phone."   
  
Mr. Krace shot a guilty look around as he quickly closed the door. "Julia, you have to leave now," he said, his words contradicting his previous action. "There are people watching this house, and if they find out you've been asking about Rina..."   
  
"I'm not leaving," Julia said in what she hoped was a firm manner. "Rina was... is my friend, at least I think she's my friend, and I want to know the truth about her."   
  
Mr. Krace sighed wearily. "Then come into one of the center rooms, it's safer to talk there."   
  
He led her into his study, a small room in the center of the house with no windows and not enough ventilation. Mr. Krace sat in one chair and gestured for Julia to take another. "I don't know what you expect me to know," he said. "I haven't had any communication with Rina since they took her, and they haven't told me anything about her, either. I don't even know where she's been taken."   
  
"Mr. Krace, was Rina really a Rebel?"   
  
He closed his eyes. "Yes." There was a note of certainty in his voice that Julia didn't expect, which led her to ask a second question.   
  
"Did you know?"   
  
He now opened his eyes to stare at her. For several seconds he said nothing. Finally he answered in a very low voice. "Yes."   
  
"Yes?!" she asked, astonished. "But... at the party... she apologized. She said that she should have told you."   
  
"That scene was staged for the benefit of the Alliance, so that they would think I knew nothing of value. It was mostly for my protection."   
  
Julia stared at him. "But... you knew? And you let her join the Rebels? Didn't you know how dangerous that was? Didn't you tell her?"   
  
"She knew the risks."   
  
"But she's just a child!"   
  
To her surprise, he let out a short bark of bitter laughter. "Rina's a special girl."   
  
Julia didn't know how to respond to that, so she asked another question. "When did you find out that she had joined the Rebels?"   
  
"I knew from the beginning."   
  
"When was that?"   
  
"A little less than nine years ago."   
  
"Nine years?" Julia repeated. "You mean nine months, right?" Nine years ago Rina would have only been seven.   
  
"Yes, of course," he answered. "Julia, I'm sorry. Rina spoke often of her friendship with you, and her fondness for you. I know she regretted not being able to tell you the truth, but there isn't much more I can tell you. Rina and I both agreed that it would be best if I didn't know much about what she did, so that if this happened I wouldn't become a target. I don't know anything else to tell you."   
  
"You're sure there's not anything else?" Julia beseeched him. She hadn't found out anything, really. And nothing about what was happening to Rina.   
  
"Tell her the truth," said a low voice from behind her. Julia jumped to her feet and turned around, frightened at the sudden interruption. She'd thought they were alone in the house. For a moment, light shining in from the corridor blinded her, and all she could make out were two figures. As her eyes adjusted, she realized that they were two boys, about Rina's age, both colonists like herself. It was the one in front who'd spoken.   
  
"Who are you?" she gasped, backing up a few steps. There was something frightening about them, despite the fact that they were just boys, little more than children.   
  
"Heero, are you sure about this?" the second boy asked the first as both moved forward into the room.   
  
"Do it," Heero instructed, and Julia noticed his comment was directed at Mr. Krace. Who did he think he was, to order the Ambassador around like that?   
  
But Mr. Krace didn't scold the boy for his audacity, he just frowned. "Heero, she isn't one of you."   
  
"But she was observant enough to notice that you held something back when you said Rina was a Rebel, and her instincts are good. Also, she's quickly moving into her father's position - it's common knowledge that in a few years she may become a Representative herself. More than that, she's known to be a friend of Rina's. They won't be able to break Rina with the usual methods. We expect they'll try to manipulate her through her emotions and her ties to humanity. They'll see those as her weaknesses."   
  
"You're Rebels, aren't you?" Julia asked, breaking into the conversation between the boy and Mr. Krace.   
  
"Yes."   
  
"What are you doing here?"   
  
"We were talking to the ambassador about his daughter, but you may be useful. Tell her about the Phoenix," he instructed Mr. Krace again.   
  
"The Phoenix?" Julia repeated in a gasp, turning back to Mr. Krace. "You know who the Phoenix is?"   
  
Mr. Krace glanced at the two boys, then nodded. "So do you."   
  
It took Julia several seconds to find a possible meaning behind his strange words, and then she shook her head. "Mr. Krace, you aren't talking about Rina, are you? You can't be."   
  
"She is quick, for a human," the second boy said.   
  
"For a human?" Julia repeated. "What's going on here? Why did they arrest Rina? And how did she manage to... to..."   
  
"Kill," the first boy, Heero, replied in an emotionless voice. "The word is kill. She did fairly well, she eliminated more than half of the enemy before she was captured. We might have done a little better, but it was still well done."   
  
Julia backed up, horrified. "She killed eleven people!" the words burst out of her, and in that one instant found herself at the heart of the matter that had brought her here. She'd seen Rina do things that were impossible, had seen a childhood friend kill many people, then jump like a kangaroo to the second floor. It wasn't possible. "How can you say it was well done?"   
  
"She eliminated the enemy, and managed to salvage something out of the situation even after she was captured," Heero said. "It was well done."   
  
"My God, what are you?" Julia cried. There was something... something very wrong with this boy, something that made her instinctively draw away.   
  
"Heero!" the second boy said sharply. He took a few steps towards her, then stopped as she tried to back away from him. "Rina wasn't who you thought she was," he said quietly with an apologetic glance at Mr. Krace.   
  
"I knew that. Who was she?"   
  
"She is the Phoenix."   
  
"That's impossible," Julia said, shaking her head.   
  
"No, it's not." He walked over to a metal fixture decorating the wall, and with his bare hand casually crumpled some of the metal.   
  
"How did you do that?" she asked, staring at the metal. "Are you..." she trailed off, trying to think of some explanation for what she'd just seen, and failing.   
  
"I... we were genetically engineered," he said, glancing at Heero. "We were created, not born. We were completely conscious at birth and more intelligent than any human alive. We never forget anything, we have strength beyond any normal human, and speed, too. We were raised by the Alliance to do their bidding, before we became Rebels. Rina is also one of us, and would have been just like us except that she was raised by Jules instead of the Alliance doctors. She is the Phoenix, and has been since she was twelve. She is the one who captured us and taught us the truth about the Alliance and what it does."   
  
"But she's just a kid!"   
  
"No, she isn't. She never has been a kid, none of us has. She pretended to be normal to hide who and what she was."   
  
Julia turned shakily towards Mr. Krace. "Is this true?"   
  
He nodded. "It was nine years ago that she first started helping the Rebels, not nine months. Going to school was just a cover for her. She already holds several college degrees in a number of fields, and has since she was seven."   
  
"It's not true," Julia whispered, willing it all to go away, for everything to go back to the way it had been a week before. She couldn't face the thought that Rina, her friend... at least she'd thought Rina was her friend... was some sort of inhuman monster.   
  
"I wish it wasn't," the second boy said. "I wish... There are many things I wish, but that Rina, that we all could have had normal lives is one of the things I wish for most, but it didn't happen that way."   
  
"Why are you telling me this?" she asked in a harsh whisper.   
  
"Because we need your help," Heero said.   
  
"What?" she asked, drawing back another step. She was getting rather close to the wall.   
  
"They won't be able to torture information out of Rina the normal way," the second boy explained. "She trained herself and we trained her to resist that sort of thing. So they'll have to try other methods. We think that they might come to you for information."   
  
"I won't give them anything, if that's what you're worried about."   
  
"No. What we want is anything you can tell us about whoever comes to you. A picture, a voice recording, even a verbal description."   
  
"Why?"   
  
"We know that they've taken her to the Alliance's headquarters, the real place where the Chancellor lives, not in the mansion. It's the one Alliance base we've never been able to locate. We're not even sure who's on the staff there. If you could help us locate one of them, one that leaves the base, we might be able to capture them and find out where the base is," Heero said, still sounding like a robot.   
  
"You mean torture them for information," she cried. "I won't do it!"   
  
They were silent for a moment, then the second one spoke again. "Julia," he said softly, persuasively. "Do you have any idea what they're doing to Rina right now?"   
  
"Holding her until her trial," Julia said. "That's what the news reports say."   
  
"The news is controlled by the Alliance, like almost everything else here," Heero stated darkly. "There won't be a trial. They can't afford to have the public know that a child was making them look like fools for so long, and of course, the details of our creation are classified."   
  
"Then why hold her?" Julia asked, although she already knew the answer.   
  
"Rina holds enough information in her mind to completely destroy the Rebels, if that information ever fell into Alliance hands," the other boy continued. "They need that information, and they're torturing her for it. I know the methods they're using on her - I perfected many of them myself. Do you want to know what they're doing to her?"   
  
Julia shook her head, but she couldn't find her voice to say anything out loud. He continued, "It will start with basic techniques. She was shot twice - they won't treat the wounds. They won't let her get enough sleep, or give her enough food, and they'll bring in interrogators on a random basis to try to keep her confused, and give her regular beatings to make sure she's always uncomfortable. None of those techniques will work, so they'll proceed to others. Hallucinatory drugs, electricity, emotional torture... they'll use them all on her. She'll resist. She'll resist for a long time, much longer than anyone they've ever met. She might be able to resist for months, maybe even as long as a year, but every person has a breaking point. Sooner or later they'll wear down her resistance to the point where she caves in and tells them what they want to know. We've already changed as much as we can, access codes, locations of arms, but there are other things we can't change, and a lot of people - innocent people who've never had a thing to do with the Rebels - are going to die when she breaks."   
  
Julia didn't want to believe it, didn't want to imagine that anyone could be so cruel to a sixteen-year old girl, but the image of Rina being abruptly cut off as one of the soldiers slammed his fist into her stomach kept replaying in Julia's mind. "What do you want me to do?" she whispered.   
  
"Just what we said before. Don't do anything rash. We don't even know for sure if they will come, but if they do, try to give us some way to identify them. If we can find the base we can hit it, try to rescue Rina, but we have to find it first."   
  
"What will you do to whoever comes?"   
  
The two boys exchanged a glance. "We've promised Rina that we wouldn't use the techniques they'll use on her on any of our prisoners, but there are less painful methods to find out what we want, methods that will work on normal humans."   
  
Julia considered. "I don't think I can do it," she said, her voice trembling a little.   
  
"If you can't do it for Rina, do it for your father," Heero said.   
  
"My father?! What does he have to do with this?"   
  
"The Alliance had him assassinated because he was too loud in his protestations about the way the colonies were treated."   
  
"I thought that the Rebels killed him because of the time he spent on Earth!"   
  
"That's what the Alliance wanted you to think. The time he spent on Earth was really spent trying to gain support for the colonies."   
  
"How do you know that?" she demanded.   
  
"I..." he was suddenly cut off by the other boy.   
  
"I knew the person who assassinated your father," the boy said quickly.   
  
"You did? Who was he?"   
  
"A pawn of the Alliance. He's dead now, but the Alliance that killed your father is now holding Rina. Will you please help her?" there was sincerity in his words.   
  
Julia came to an abrupt decision, momentarily reliving those moments when her father's head exploded as he stepped up to the podium. They'd never caught the assassin. "How do you know that he's dead?" she asked.   
  
The boys exchanged another glance. "Rina felt very guilty about what happened to your father," the boy said. "She tracked down and personally destroyed the guy who killed him. The Phoenix is very thorough with that sort of thing."   
  
"Then I owe her that much. I'll do what I can, both for Rina and for my father."   
"Thank you," the boy said. "Give us a few minutes, and then leave. Don't come back here, if they see too much communication between you and Mr. Krace, they'll get suspicious."   
  
"Give you a few minutes to do what?"   
  
"One of the agents watching this house saw you enter, and another saw you climbing the stairs. We've got to eliminate them before they can report back that you were here." Heero glanced at his companion, who nodded gravely.   
  
"We can't spare their lives," he said, as if talking to himself. "They know too much - they can't report back at all."   
  
"You're going to kill them?" she asked, her voice rising shrilly.   
  
"Don't have a choice," Heero said, turning to leave. "Go back out the way you came."   
  
The second boy paused on the threshold for a second. "I'm sorry - about your father, I mean. And about some other things. But thank you for helping us." Then he, too, disappeared.   
  
Julia started to lurch after them, but Mr. Krace reached out and grabbed her shoulder. "No, please don't stop them!" he cried, his voice breaking. "For Rina's sake."   
  
"But, you heard them..." Julia protested weakly.   
  
"It's no game we play," he said. "It is literally life and death for hundreds, if not thousands of people. Julia, you would have done best to refuse them, but for Rina's sake I thank you. You have no idea what the Alliance has done to the colonists without anyone realizing."   
  
"Did Rina..." Julia cut herself off. She knew the answer to that question - she'd seen Rina's skill at killing at the party. She must have killed before. But still Julia couldn't picture the younger girl as a killer. "I want to know," she said quietly. "Everything."   
  
"I don't know everything. What I told you before, about Rina keeping me out of her work for my own protection, that was true."   
  
"Then I want to know everything you know. I want to know what, exactly, Rina is. They kept referring to me as human, that implies that they are not human, doesn't it?"   
  
"It does."   
  
"Then I want to know the whole story before I leave here."   
  
"The whole story will take time you don't have. There's only a short window of time before the other agents realize what has happened and take up new positions. If you don't leave before then, the boys will have to kill more people."   
  
"Then give me the short version."   
  
  
------------   
  
  
Rina managed not to cry out in pain as the door to her cell opened again. This morning they'd switched tactics, moving her from a cell that was brightly lit at all times to one that was almost completely dark. The light shining in from the doorway nearly blinded her, and she raised her hands to protect her eyes, trying to make out the figures entering the cell. She hoped that it was more guards come back to beat her. That was all it had been for the last week - the bright cell, drugs injected into her, little food and water, and the beatings. She knew that this was only preparation, and for that reason had maintained a fairly good humor for the past week, because as long as they were preparing her, it meant that she had a little more time before she became really uncomfortable.   
  
It was guards, but Yirtz was with them. He was carrying one of those damn pain-rods with him. "On your feet!" he snapped, reaching towards her with the rod. She evaded it, slowly getting to her feet. Sometimes she cooperated with them, sometimes she didn't. She was trying not to establish any patterns that they could try to judge her by, at least, not yet. Rina was saving that tactic until she found out what sort of torture they were going to use, then she intended to give them clues to point them in the wrong direction. She had one advantage over her captors - she knew all about every one of their techniques, from Arthur, while they knew nothing about her. Unfortunately that was an advantage that time and persistence on their part would take away from her.   
  
She noted the slight frown of displeasure on Yirtz's face when she immediately obeyed, not giving him an excuse to hurt her, so she wasn't surprised when he planted the rod on the top of her right shoulder, forcing her to her knees. A scream burst out of her lips, entirely for his benefit, she barely even felt it anymore, not on top of all of her bruises. While she screamed, she wondered why he was here. She hadn't seen him since that first meeting with the Chancellor - he'd left all of his dirty work to the guards, although he had no doubt been watching the beating sessions on cameras. He was twisted.   
  
"You're weak," Yirtz growled at her as she lay on the floor, gasping for breath. "Now get up!"   
  
Rina glared at him, and got shocked again. She stood up again, eyeing him warily. He wouldn't try the same trick again, would he? she decided, seeing him glance into the corner where she knew a camera was hidden in the darkness. Yirtz apparently came to the same conclusion, because he merely jerked his head at her. "Bring it."   
  
Rina felt fury rise in her, and then turned it on herself. There was nothing that angered her so much as when he called her 'it', and it made her even angrier that she allowed herself to be manipulated like that.   
  
They picked her up and put her in a wheeled chair, strapping her down securely. Rina tested the bonds, and realized that while he might be insane, Yirtz did know her tolerances. Under normal circumstances she might have been able to break free, but all of the drugs in her system were messing up both her mind and body, so that she couldn't bring on enough strength.   
  
She kept her face immobile, but inside she quaked with fear. This could mean only one thing - that they were done with preliminaries, and ready to start questioning her in earnest. One main fear clawed at her mind - would she be able to resist? Arthur had described the various stages of torture that the Alliance used. The first several she would be able to resist, of that she was confident. But every person had a breaking point...   
  
Her body tensed slightly as she thought of something. The later stages she couldn't resist, but for now... what if she got them to stick to these stages longer? That might buy the others a little more time, maybe even let them figure out some way to hide Refuge, something she hadn't thought of. That was all she had left to hope for, but it was something. They would wait longer in this stage if they thought they were getting to her... she mentally reviewed information that she already knew had been compromised to the Alliance. She could give them drips and drabs of that, she decided as they wheeled her into a brightly lit room. In the center of the ceiling was a huge lamp, pointing down on the floor beneath it. They wheeled her under the lamp, and immediately she could feel the heat on the top of her head.   
  
They fixed the wheels on the chair so that it wouldn't move, and then left her alone with Yirtz, but her mind was elsewhere. If she told him that information a little at a time, like it was being forced out of her, they would confirm it against what they already knew, and might think they were getting somewhere. She could even tell him the old codes for their computer system, for by now Arthur had surely changed them. She could draw that little bit of information out for a long time, she thought.   
  
Just thinking of Arthur caused more pain than she liked to admit, as she faced the certainty that she was never going to see him or any of them again. She refused to let herself dwell on that. Her life was over, the sooner she accepted it the better. All that was left to her now was to do the best she could to help them by resisting for as long as she could.   
  
As Yirtz stepped up to her, an eager expression on his face and that damn rod in his hand, Rina did the best she could to wrap herself in the lessons Arthur had given her on resisting torture. Maybe if she was lucky she could bring on one of those memory-flashes now...   
  
Then the rod was flying at her, and Yirtz was demanding answers to questions, as the world seemed to descend into a sea of pain.   
  
  
-----------   
  
  
Cambel watched the monitors with a sort of fascinated disgust as Yirtz tortured the girl, spacing out his questions between her screams. It was difficult to keep that in mind - she looked so ordinary, so helpless, especially now. He had been right to keep away from her - it was a sign of how dangerous she was that he was unable to keep in mind what she truly was. he thought.   
  
"Chancellor, Commander Laskin is here and is requesting an audience with you," said his secretary.   
  
"Send him in right away," Cambel said, turning off the monitor and sitting up a little straighter. He was the Chancellor of Alpha colony, and Head Chancellor of Centari, but it wasn't often that he had visitors from Earth, particularly not ones as unusual as Laskin. He'd accessed the man's files when he'd received word he was coming from Earth, and what they revealed was quite interesting. Laskin was viewed as a prodigy, maybe even a genius of some sort. He was barely old enough to be an officer, but in those thirty short years he'd already made his mark in the galaxy, first in the Alliance's Academies on Earth, scoring the highest marks anyone had ever seen, and later on in helping to put down the Asian Rebellion just a year after he graduated out of the Academy. Then he'd disappeared, at least from the public eye.   
  
Now Cambel found out what he'd been up to - he'd been the link between Project Titan and Earth Command for almost ten years now, and God knew what else he'd been doing. Even Cambel was on a need-to-know basis concerning Laskin, who was one of the most dangerous men in the Alliance. It put him in an awkward position now. Technically, Laskin was only a Commander, well below his own rank, but he knew that if Laskin made any 'suggestions', he'd do well to follow them. It left him without a clear view of their comparative ranks, and that bothered him - it had been a long time since he had to salute anyone.   
  
He remained in his seat when Laskin entered. The man looked very young, with a mop of blond hair cut as long as Alliance regulations would allow, and a slight spring in his step. He saluted Cambel without any hint that there was a doubt as to their comparative ranks. "Commander Laskin, at your disposal, sir."   
  
"Pleased to meet you, Commander. Please, be seated..." Laskin immediately seated himself, looking completely at ease. "It is an honor to have you here, but I am curious as to why you came. I was only told that you had your own orders, and would carry them out when you arrived. If you are free to tell me what those orders are, I will be better able to accommodate you." Cambel wished he was confident enough of his position to demand that Laskin tell him the orders.   
  
To his dismay, Laskin chuckled once, as if he'd said something amusing, then smiled. "You are quite free to know what my orders were, the reason they could not tell you them when I left was that I had not yet determined what they were. I have been given complete discretion here."   
  
Cambel managed to keep his jaw from dropping. Complete discretion meant that Laskin was, for all intents and purposes, in command here. He could order Cambel himself arrested and would be instantly obeyed. Things had just taken a turn for the worst.   
  
Laskin saw his expression. "Don't worry, Chancellor. I rarely use all the authority I am given. My mission here is twofold. The first part is that I am, on express order of Earth Command, to investigate the cover-up that occurred here sixteen years ago that allowed Subject Eight, a.k.a. Rina Krace, a.k.a. the Phoenix, to remain hidden for so long. I may have many questions, but I doubt they will involve you, sir, because you were not involved in Project Titan in any way, nor were you in command when the cover-up occurred, so you would have no responsibility there." Cambel just barely managed to conceal his relief. "The second part of my mission is to observe and advise you concerning the interrogation of the Phoenix, specifically where Director Yirtz is concerned." Now he frowned in distaste. "I had the distinct... pleasure of working extensively with Director Yirtz during most of the duration of Project Titan, so I am well aware of his strengths and weaknesses. I may be able to... advise him on how to proceed. I also wish to speak to the prisoner myself."   
  
"I will arrange it as soon as possible, but Director Yirtz, by order of Earth Command, has been given control over her... its... interrogation. You may have to get his permission."   
  
"Don't worry, I have the authority to deal with him. Where is he now?"   
  
"He is currently interrogating the prisoner," Cambel said, switching on the monitor. There was no sound, but they could both see the girl's... the Phoenix's mouth open wide in a scream as the pain inducer was driven into her stomach.   
  
"He hasn't lost his touch, I see," Laskin observed dryly, but something in his voice caught Cambel's attention. It almost sounded like disapproval. Laskin turned back to Cambel. "I still wish to speak with the prisoner, but I will not interrupt or interfere with the schedule that Director Yirtz has set. Please tell him that I wish to speak with him as soon as he is finished."   
  
Cambel nodded. Then, observing Laskin's dispassionate face as he watched the torture session, Cambel finally realized why Laskin so unsettled him. He was the human version of Project Titan, or at least as close as any human could get. He was brilliant, and had demonstrated his ruthlessness on many occasions. But even as he made those disturbing observations, Cambel smiled slightly. Perhaps he would be able to break the Phoenix where it already seemed to Cambel that Yirtz was doomed to fail.   
  
  
-------------   
  
  
Michael hooked his hand around the ledge at the top of the building, and pulled himself up. He knew Arthur liked to come up here to think some nights... there was no way a normal human could have made the climb, not without a good deal of climbing equipment, so it guaranteed him privacy most of the time. As he dusted himself off, Michael looked around. For a minute he didn't see Arthur, which was unusual. Finally he spotted him. Arthur was sitting on the roof of the building, gazing up at the starry sky. There was a good reason that Michael, whose eyesight was as good as anyone's, had missed Arthur on his first glance. Arthur had turned his skin and hair pitch black to match the sky, and he was sitting with his back towards Michael, so his white eyes wouldn't show.   
  
"Arthur."   
  
Arthur turned to look at him, his white eyes even more startling with that skin in these surroundings. "Hello, Michael." He allowed his skin to return to normal. They were all still practicing doing that, trying to attain the proficiency Rina had at the unusual skill. So far they could all change to any color they wanted, but had a hard time maintaining it for more than a couple hours. It was like flexing a muscle, and it was difficult to keep that muscle flexed for such a long time... Rina assured them that it was possible to get so proficient that you no longer had to think about it, but she was the only one to reach that level, so far. Michael closed his eyes for a second, trying to drive her image out of his mind. Thinking about her would do no good, they either had to save her or move on and figure out how to do without her. Right now it looked like it would have to be the latter. The Alliance had already been holding Rina for three weeks.   
  
"What are you doing out here?"   
  
"Just thinking."   
  
"About Rina?"   
  
A hint of pain passed over Arthur's face. "Yeah, and other stuff. I think I have an idea on how we might be able to save Refuge if... when they break her." The pain in his voice was obvious, and Michael would have moved to try to comfort him if the impact of what he'd just said hadn't been so dramatic.   
  
That came as a shock. Michael and the others had been under the impression that Arthur just came up here to cry, or sulk, or whatever it was people with normal emotions did in a situation like this. Michael thought, remembering Jules Krace the last time he'd seen him. They were taking turns providing very discreet protection for him, now that all of his former servants were now among the Rebels. So far they'd foiled at least two assassination attempts. It was the least they could do, and not nearly enough.   
  
"What's your idea?" Michael asked. They'd all been wracking their brains, trying to figure out some way to protect Refuge. How could Arthur have suddenly come up with something on his own?   
  
"We were thinking about it the wrong way," Arthur said as if he could read Michael's mind. "That's the problem. Refuge's greatest protections has always been it's secrecy, and everything we were thinking of kept that secrecy intact."   
  
"You want to let the Alliance know about Refuge?" Michael asked doubtfully. He'd never known Arthur to make such a blatantly stupid plan, but there was a first time for everything. Maybe losing Rina had done something to him.   
  
"No," Arthur said patiently, and Michael was convinced he also knew what was going through Michael's mind now. "Not now. But..." he swallowed painfully. "When they break her, I can take over the satellites before they can attack. I can use them, either directly against the troops, or I can hold some of the Alliance installations outside of the main dome hostage, threaten to do to them what they've done to other smaller settlements. We use the time I buy to open up Refuge to everyone, the public, the media, everyone, and make sure that word of it makes it to Earth, too. The Alliance is in control there, but they can't openly show what they really are without starting a rebellion. They'll be forced to 'protect' the people in Refuge, and if we keep the public eye there long enough, the Alliance won't dare destroy it." Arthur bit his lip and looked at the ground.   
  
"The problem is that we'll be turning Refuge over to the Alliance, along with all the people in it. We can't possibly retain control over it. The people there will be crushed emotionally, but they'll be alive. If we spread word quickly enough, we can even save Dr. Green's work. There are people there who have been exiled by the Alliance, we'll have to hide them, maybe even fake their deaths, depending on how thorough the Alliance is. But it is a way to save Refuge. They can't kill or imprison tens of thousands of people, either, so the majority will be safe. But not all of them..." Arthur sighed. "Rina would hate it, but she would see that it's the only way. And the Rebels will be able to survive as well. Heero is right about that, we can't sacrifice all of the Rebels to protect those in Refuge. There has to be someone to fight the Alliance, and if the Rebels aren't here, who knows what the Alliance will try to get away with?"   
  
One of the suggestions that had come up rather briefly during the debate on how to protect Refuge had been the idea of all of the Rebels turning themselves in, in exchange for all the lives in Refuge once it was found. Heero had immediately vetoed the notion, for a number of very good reasons - the thing Arthur had just mentioned was one of them. Another was that the Alliance was certainly duplicitous enough to accept the Rebel's surrender, and then destroy Refuge anyway.   
  
"So, what do you think?" Arthur asked when Michael remained silent after nodding his agreement to the last statement.   
  
"I think it has a good chance of succeeding," Michael said, refusing to get excited until they proposed the idea before everyone and let them all have a chance to shoot it down. But it was the best he'd heard yet. Arthur nodded, looking slightly pleased with himself. He knew enough not to get too excited yet.   
  
Then something occurred to Michael. Arthur had only referred to Rina once by her name, and that was when he was talking about her imaginary reaction to his plan. When he spoke of what the Alliance was doing, it was always 'to her', not 'to Rina.' He mentioned this to Arthur, who nodded slightly, looking embarrassed.   
  
"I know that it's foolish, but I feel like, if I actually say that they will break... her, that it might make it come true." Arthur flushed bright red and looked at the ground again. "That's why I come up here so much now."   
  
"Excuse me?" Michael was unable to find any logic in that last sentence.   
  
"I... Sometimes, if it's quiet enough, I can close my eyes and see Rina, right now. I feel like... somehow, I'm closer to her. I can't explain it."   
  
Michael didn't know how to respond to that, but an idea was beginning to form in his mind. So when Arthur asked him if he thought that it was all in his head, that emotions really did make him weaker and were doing something to his mind, Michael replied, "I don't know, yet. Maybe you really are closer to her, somehow. Don't stop just yet. And I don't think your mind is going, not yet anyway."   
  
That earned him a wan smile, which made Michael feel warm inside. Arthur had never smiled when he was with the Alliance. It was the truth, which surprised him. Then Arthur's smile died as he turned to stare at the sky again, darkening his skin. Michael saw a slight frown on his face as he closed his eyes, and perceived that Arthur was thinking about Rina. A flare of anger rose within him at the Alliance, but he let it pass through him, the way he always did. Anger would do none of them any good now. Now he had to work. "Tomorrow you'll present your idea to the others?" he asked, and Arthur nodded.   
"Goodnight."   
  
"Goodnight," Arthur responded in a murmur.   
  
Michael turned to climb back down. He had some research to do.   
  
  
-------------   
  
  
Rina hid her eyes again as the door opened, flooding light on her for the first time in days. In those days she'd given serious thought to the idea that Yirtz was trying to permanently damage her eyes. She had a hard time imagining that sort of idea coming from him - he was more likely to try to destroy her mind and then experiment on her body than the other way around. On the other hand, she'd been resisting him for over a month now, and he was getting rather irrational.   
  
But it wasn't Yirtz in the doorway, she discovered as her eyes cleared. It was a young man, an Earthling like all the other Alliance soldiers, but there was an air of confidence about him that was unusual in one so young, and disconcerting, as well. He studied her without speaking for several long minutes, then turned his head to the side. "Turn the lights on, I want to have a good look at her."   
  
"Yes sir." Rina heard, and those two words told her a lot. First of all, he was an officer, and high-ranking enough to gain access to her cell. He was also powerful or important enough that people would disregard Yirtz's current orders without hesitating. For a human to come by such power so young in the Alliance meant that he was exceptional, in one way or another. She was about to find out.   
  
When the lights came on, he walked into the room, and the door closed behind him. He was apparently unarmed, but was careful to stay beyond the length of chain that tethered her to the wall as he walked in a slow, half-circle around her. Then he leaned back against the wall and waited.   
  
A minute passed, then another. Ten minutes passed, and still he said nothing. As they passed the fifteen-minute mark in silence, Rina realized that this was some sort of test, to see how patient she was. What should she do about it? Should she give in and speak first, to let them think she could be manipulated like that, or would it be too obvious? she decided. Yirtz was probably watching, and if he wasn't, he'd hear about this and jump to the wrong conclusions. Misdirection had kept him in the earliest stages of their torture methods for over a month now, there was no reason that it shouldn't continue to work.   
  
Rina thought with an internal frown. If he had enough power to get around Yirtz, then he might be taking over her interrogation, and in that case, it would be foolish to make so obvious a move until she knew more. Twenty minutes passed, then twenty-five. Rina continued to sit with her back against the wall staring into space. She looked absolutely still, but she was carefully clenching and unclenching various muscle groups so that she didn't get too stiff. She didn't think Yirtz knew she could do that, and you never knew when a little bit of extra mobility might come in handy.   
  
At the thirty-minute-mark, he finally spoke. "Impressive. I was half-expecting you to give in so that old fool Yirtz would go running off in the wrong direction again."   
Rina felt a chill. He knew what she'd been doing to Yirtz!   
  
"Oh, don't look so surprised," he said. "It isn't really your fault I saw what you were doing. You had to be fairly obvious for him to catch on, obvious enough that it was easy for me to see you." He gave her a wicked smile and started tapping his fingers against his own leg, obviously mimicking her, and Rina realized what had given away her surprise. She stopped tapping her fingers against her knee, but didn't give any sign of her irritation.   
  
"You are quite impressive," he repeated, almost to himself. "You are what the subjects of Project Titan should have become, if the project wasn't managed by an arrogant, sadistic man who was more interested in hurting things than in truly serving the Alliance. Luckily for you, his methods were just good enough that I couldn't protest, otherwise he would have been removed from the project and replaced with someone who could have turned them into the weapon that you are. Independent, aggressive, and with a full range of human emotions. I always knew the training was a bad idea." He sighed. "Of course, none of that matters any more, now that we have you."   
  
"What are you doing here?" she asked in a low voice.   
  
"Oh, so she finally speaks! I am here to advise Yirtz, to correct the mistakes he makes so we can speed up the process of breaking your mind." He frowned slightly, almost to himself. "Then we will be able to destroy the Rebels."   
  
"You sound as brain-washed as the boys did," she observed darkly.   
  
"But I came to my own conclusions on the topic," he told her, a frown etched across his face. There was something deeply disturbing to him here, something long since over and quite emotional that was driving him. She could tell because of the frown, because of the way his entire body tightened up and his breathing became heavier. Definitely something old and emotional.   
  
"And how did you do that?"   
  
"It was easy enough," he said. "When they ki..." he cut himself off, but not before she guessed that someone he'd known and loved had been killed, and he believed it was by the Rebels. "You're very good," he said admiringly. "But so am I. You're lucky that I wasn't put in charge of Project Titan."   
  
Rina knew that. She knew exactly how lucky she'd been, how lucky they'd all been. If Project Titan had come around ten, even five years later, he probably would have been put in command, and she never would have been able to turn them. None of this was much of a relief now, though, as she faced an opponent who had actually learned something about her, the real her.   
  
He studied her face, although Rina knew that her expression hadn't changed in the slightest. "Finally, an opponent worth fighting," he said with a smile, for a second reminding her of Kan. "Don't you have anything to say?"   
  
Rina shook her head, assuming a defeated look. His smile died for a second, and she knew she'd surprised him, even if it was just for a moment. She let the look fade away, then raised her eyes to meet his, and smiled. "You are better than Yirtz," she told him honestly. "Quite good for a human. But I'm not human, and you shouldn't believe anything I tell you about me."   
  
She saw the protest on his lips, that she hadn't told him anything about her, but she started tapping her fingers against her leg, imitating the nervous gesture. The words died unspoken, and she saw him reviewing their conversation in his mind, trying to figure out whether she had been feeding him misinformation, knowing how much quicker he was and relying on him to pick up on it. He had, but that didn't mean that she wasn't manipulating him all the same. All of that was a lie, of course, but he had no way of knowing that, and now he was doubting himself.   
  
He gave her a confident smile, which she knew was entirely fake. "Nice try, Phoenix. But it will take more than that to fool me." As he turned and left, leaving her in darkness again, Rina hid a smile. He was wrong. That was all it had taken to fool him, and now he didn't know whether he could trust his own observations about her.   
  
She'd bought herself a little more time.   
  
  
  
  
TRANSCRIPT OF DIALOGUE FROM BASE 231.8   
STATUS: SECURITY LEVEL 1   
DATE: 21.27.22   
TOPIC: INTERROGATION OF THE PHOENIX   
  
  
A: How dare you interfere with my work! You ruined a full week of preparation by speaking with it then! I was under the impression you were here in a completely observatory sense!   
  
  
B: Then you were misinformed. I am here to observe, and to advise. And it is my duty to advise you when I see that you are making a mistake, as you are now.   
  
  
A: What?   
  
  
B: You refuse to give the Phoenix full credit for intelligence, strength, or cunning because you did not train her. That is not only arrogant, but foolish, given what she has accomplished against us already.   
  
  
A: It is weak, much weaker than any of my creations. What is your point?   
  
  
B: You mentioned in your daily report that you have continued on this level of interrogation for much longer than the normal time period because you believed she was beginning to break, that she was starting to give you real information about the Rebels?   
  
  
A: I have confirmed that. Most of what it tells me are lies, of course, but I can distinguish between lies and real information. Much of what it's told me has already been confirmed. Other things, like passwords and codes, have already been changed by the other Rebels, but they remain important, as a sign that it is breaking.   
  
  
B: You're a fool. Don't you think that Four explained our techniques to her? Don't you think that she would try to use that to her advantage? She has perfect recall. She must have known that some of the information about the Rebels had been compromised. Likewise, she must have known that the Rebels would change their passwords. She's deliberately giving you useless information in an attempt to remain longer in this level of interrogation, to buy herself more time.   
  
  
A: No...   
  
  
B: Yes. Are you ready to listen to a suggestion?   
  
  
A: Do I have a choice?   
  
  
B: No, and if you're wise, you'll listen to me. Immediately step up the level. Assume that the first few levels wouldn't work on her, no matter what. Those levels don't usually work on strong-willed humans, so there's no way they'll work on her. While you start more intensive work, start concentrating on how she's different from the subjects of Project Titan.   
  
  
A: You mean emotions.   
  
  
B: Yes. We know she thinks of herself as the Phoenix, that tells us a lot about her already. The Phoenix is known to be efficient, ruthless when the situation calls for it, but also weak-hearted in others, not given to sacrificing her own people. That means she cares for people, but is willing to sacrifice them, and also that she holds her first allegiance to the Rebels, not to the people at large.   
  
  
A: I know that! I've seen the reports on the Phoenix.   
  
  
B: Then use them, damn it! You've been using purely physical torture, when you know that even normal humans can resist that. Get into her mind, Director, if you want to succeed.   
  
  
A: Are you in charge of this interrogation or am I?   
  
  
B: As I said before, I am here only to advise. But if you don't get results and soon, Earth Command will lose patience with you. You've failed one time too many - there isn't any room for mistakes left.   
  
  
A: They wouldn't dare...   
  
  
B: They would, and even with your much-vaunted secrets, I don't think they'll spare you. There are ways of getting that information, whether you tell them willingly or not.


	19. Part 18

Rina stood in the middle of a graveyard. She wanted to run away, but her feet were chained to the ground. All of the graves faced her, they were situated around her in huge concentric circles, growing larger and larger until she couldn't see where they ended. In the circle nearest her were five graves - the five boys, her brothers. She could see their faces peering out at her from beneath the soil, wearing accusing, angry frowns. Just beyond them, in the next circle, she saw her father and Mike and many of her friends and subordinates within the Rebels. They all wore identical expressions of anger and betrayal. Beyond them were more of the Rebels, and people from Refuge, and on and on and on... too many graves to count, all because she had given in. She could almost hear their accusations, and the wind whispering the words, "You killed us... you killed us..."   
  
"I didn't mean to!" she shouted to the world at large. "I tried! I fought for you! I did my best! I'm dying for you!"   
  
Still the accusations didn't stop. Suddenly a chalk-white Arthur rose out of his grave. "How could you do this to me?" he whispered with lips that had once kissed her hand... An elusive memory flitted just out of reach and then disappeared. "I... I thought you truly cared for me. I know I loved you."   
  
"I didn't mean to," she pleaded with him. "Please, I tried..."   
  
"Well it wasn't enough," Heero said firmly, standing on her other side. "Now we're dead because of you. You never were quite strong enough, were you? That's why you needed us. But now we're dead. You would have done better to leave us with the Alliance."   
  
"No, that's not true!" she shouted, but he suddenly turned to stone and then crumbled away to dust.   
  
"Hey, this was a great life," Herc said sarcastically. He was suddenly standing behind her, and Rina had to twist around to look at him as her feet were rooted to the ground. "All sixteen years of it. Do you have any idea on what I missed out on? My entire life, that's what. Thanks for nothing." He slowly faded away.   
  
"I don't think she understands," Michael's voice said in her left ear.   
  
"No," Rina whimpered, trembling. "Please, no more."   
  
"No, that's right, she doesn't," Kan replied, standing on her right side. "She's never understood what we were."   
  
"I think..." Michael said slowly, "That she's even more strange than we are. At least we know who we are... or at least, we knew. She... she's stuck in some sort of limbo, not quite human, but not what our designers planned either. Completely unique and alone, wouldn't you say?'   
  
"I agree. At least we knew what we were, while we were still alive. But you tried to take that away from us, didn't you?" he suddenly growled into her ear.   
  
"No," Rina sobbed.   
  
"Yes," he replied, mocking her. "I think you were so desperate to find anyone else, not to be alone, that you were willing to pull us down with you for that. And you did it." He bowed once more to her, this time mocking her, and then vanished.   
  
"I thought I was helping Arthur, but all the time you were just using us for yourself," Michael said, and then also faded from view.   
  
Now only Arthur's ghost was left. "Why don't you just give up?" he whispered. "You're already too late to save us. Now I can never tell you..." he trailed off and started fading away.   
  
"No, don't go!" she pleaded.   
  
"Why not?" he demanded, suddenly strong and vengeful. "You're the one who killed us, Eight!"   
  
she thought suddenly, and opened her eyes.   
  
She was tied to a chair in a darkened room. She felt weak, that was from lack of food, and her body ached from the daily beatings she still received. The IV that fed drugs into her system was still in place in her arm, and as she watched, Yirtz came out of the shadows, an angry expression on his face. I didn't break, she thought, relief washing over her. I made it through again. She discovered she was still sobbing, still shaking.   
  
"Your resistance is impressive, even for what you are," he said to her. Rina didn't answer him. Because of the training she had given herself and the situation in which she found herself, this particular method of torture was ineffective with her. The idea was to expose the victim to their worst nightmares, to break down their resistance, but since Rina's worst nightmares always stemmed from her betraying everyone around her and causing their deaths, this only strengthened her resolve. It's only a matter of time until they figure that out, though, and move on to other methods. In the last several weeks, as the torture had suddenly intensified, Rina had come to accept the fact that her death was the only chance she had to escape the fate she had hallucinated. But they had yet to give her an opportunity to kill herself. "Under other circumstances you might make a fascinating case study," he commented. "Unfortunately, we do not have the time for that now. Take her back to her room."   
  
As the guards removed the restraints that held her to the chair, Rina almost fell to the floor as her muscles failed to hold her up. "Side effect of the toxin," one said to the other. "She won't be able to move for hours." As always, her arms were sheathed in the metal cuffs and held close together in front of her, so they just grabbed her by the arms and started dragging her back to her room. But this time, they didn't bother to chain her legs. Rina didn't know whether it was because she was growing a tolerance to the drug, or what other reason, but she regained control of her muscles long before she normally did. She kept herself completely limp, though, so as not to tip off the guards, in case there was an opportunity. They'd almost reached her room when they passed another guard at the intersection between two halls, holding a gun - a real gun - in his hands.   
  
As they passed him, Rina suddenly swept her left foot out and tripped up the guard holding her. Regaining her feet, she jerked her arm away from the remaining guard and stepped up to the one with the gun. She could already hear the other two drawing their dart guns as she jerked the gun out of the hands of the guard, and twisted it around to face herself. Because of the awkward position her hands were in, she could barely hold the gun trained on herself, much less aim it. As the first dart hit her back, she pressed the gun against her abdomen and pulled the trigger. Pain blossomed from her stomach as the second dart hit her, and she dropped to the ground, panting heavily. Her breath seemed to come short as she lay there. she thought, and everything went black.   
  
  
------------   
  
  
Heero sat in a planning meeting, organizing another strike in the Phoenix's name. He might refuse to take the title, but he was the Phoenix in all but name. No one had protested his leadership in the first few days after Rina was captured, during the frantic scramble to change codes and moves stores, and after that no one asked him to step down. With the other four to help him, the Rebels were working as efficiently as ever, and even making gains against the Alliance. But with Rina missing for more than two months now, all of the feeling of triumph had gone out of it, at least for those who had known her. It was probable that the lower levels of the Rebels never even knew the Phoenix had been captured. A few people noticed the absence of Rina Krace - it was difficult not to, not after the way all of the stations kept showing pictures of her for the first week, but none of them ever connected Rina with the Phoenix.   
  
Everything was relatively normal, when suddenly Arthur gasped and clutched at his stomach. "Rina, no!" he shouted, and collapsed to the floor.   
  
"Arthur!" Both Mike and Michael were instantly up out of their seats, while Heero stood by and stared in shock. This was how it had happened with Rina, many months earlier. Heero felt a moment of panic - Arthur couldn't be sick like that! Arthur was the most like Rina of all of them, and somehow managed to comfort them even when they wouldn't admit they felt anything. They couldn't lose him now!   
  
"It's Rina," he muttered when he came around. "She tried to kill herself."   
  
"How do you know that?" Mike asked.   
  
"I can feel her," Arthur moaned. "Please, Rina, don't die," he murmured to himself. "Don't give up yet."   
  
Michael looked at Heero. "I did some research before, trying to discover why Arthur is so different from the rest of us. On Earth, some people believe in something called empathy."   
  
Heero frowned. "Like understanding another's pain?"   
  
"Yes, but more than that - actually feeling another's pain. Many mothers claim to know instantly when their children are hurt or afraid. I think that Arthur may have some of that gift, or whatever it is, which is why the emotional training didn't work with him. At least, that explains why it didn't. I wouldn't have mentioned it, except for this..." he trailed off, a concerned expression on his face.   
  
"But what good is it to know if someone is hurt if you can't do anything about it?" Kan demanded, angry in his frustration.   
  
"It isn't something you learn," Michael said, also sounding angry. "It just is. Don't you think Arthur would have turned it off if he could, while we were working for the Alliance?"   
  
"So you think that it's true," Heero said. "You think Rina really tried to kill herself?"   
  
"Isn't that what you would do?" Herc asked disapprovingly. Heero started to turn, to yell at Herc something about his behavior that would make him be silent, but he stopped himself. He wasn't going to let any emotions get control of him.   
  
"Yes, I would." He stared at Arthur, who was still lying prone on the floor, muttering to himself. "Do you think she succeeded?"   
  
"Arthur would know that, wouldn't he?" Herc asked. Heero was astounded by how quickly they accepted the impossible claim that Arthur could know things like that, then realized that he was accepting it himself. Arthur always had been different, and since joining the Rebels he'd developed a knack for knowing where they were needed without having any explanation why. Heero had been roused more than once during the night because Arthur wanted to check out something in the colony. More often then not they'd found trouble on the streets. So in a way it wasn't surprising so see Arthur reacting to something he couldn't possibly know about.   
  
The meeting was essentially over, although Rina would disapprove of them halting business on her account. There was no way any of them could concentrate until they found out whether she lived or not.   
  
  
-------------   
  
  
"It was a very close thing," Commander Laskin reported. "We barely managed to save her life. Actually, it was the presence of the drugs that did that. They slowed her circulation and respiration so that she didn't die from blood loss before we could get to her. As it was, we had a devil of a time patching her back together, and she never would have survived if she wasn't what she is. She's still very weak - she won't be up to any serious questioning for weeks yet." His expression was mixed, half angry and half admiring. There was also a hint of puzzlement on his face as he reviewed the reports of the last few torture sessions.   
  
"Damn!" Cambel exclaimed. Despite what he had seen of the girl, he'd never expected her to resist torture this long. Yirtz had informed him that he was about to start the girl in the chamber next week, and was certain it would break her. Now they'd have to wait for her to heal.   
  
"Sir, I believe there may be other ways of trying to get inside her mind," Laskin said cautiously.   
  
Cambel oriented on him. "And what would that be?"   
  
"I was liaison between the military branch of the Alliance and the head of the project for several years," Laskin replied. "I've seen quite a good deal of Director Yirtz's creations, and I believe I may have something of interest to tell you about Yirtz and his creations."   
  
"And what is that?" Cambel asked, interested in an outside opinion. He'd known Laskin was involved in the project as liaison, but had been too afraid to ask his opinion of Yirtz. The disgusted looks and comments he kept making were a strong indication of how he felt, but this would be better.   
  
"The way Yirtz regards his creations is flawed for the sort of work he's doing. He acknowledges only what he built into his creations, to the exclusion of all else. One of the boys, designated Four, had a natural gift that could have been a great weapon. He was somewhat like this girl, in that he understood humans. Utilized properly, he could have been as effective and dangerous as any of the others, without ever killing anyone, which he despised."   
  
"A weapon that doesn't like to kill?" Cambel asked doubtfully. Whatever he had expected, this wasn't it.   
  
"Yirtz has a similar attitude," Laskin said calmly, and Cambel stifled a grimace of distaste. "He refused to see that his creations were not entirely of his making, and tried to squash any differences between them. Since Four was the most different, he spent a good part of his time in the chamber, where Yirtz tried to torture the differences out of him. Yirtz had a similar level of success as he is having now with the girl. You see, he didn't create her entirely himself, so he persists in thinking that she must be weaker than his creations as a result. That sort of thinking is innately flawed, and can have disastrous results, as was demonstrated by the loss of Project Titan."   
  
"I've seen the behavior you describe," Cambel admitted. "What would you recommend?"   
  
"Continue the torture when she is healthy enough," Laskin advised. "But in the meantime, try a different approach. Find someone, a psychologist or something, who can understand her and get into her mind. We have to find her weakness before we can exploit it, and we have to understand her first."   
  
"It's a good suggestion," Cambel said thoughtfully. "And what's more, I like it. There's a certain irony that we might be able to use the techniques she used against our boys against her. I'll assign someone to find an appropriate person for the job." He realized that the comments before had very little to do with the suggestion. Laskin had been telling him this for a reason, letting him in on insights into both Yirtz and Project Titan that he'd never had before. But why? Was he trying to warn Cambel about Yirtz, or was it something else?   
  
"If I may suggest, sir," Laskin said, a gleam in his eye. "Why don't you give the job to Yirtz? He won't have anything to do until she's healed, and if he participates in the project, he may learn something useful about himself."   
  
Cambel thought that the reasons Laskin had mentioned, while good, were probably not the ones that had prompted him to suggest Yirtz. But he might as well let Laskin have his fun. He had made some good points. "Do it," he ordered. "I'll sign off on any papers you need. It should be an... educational and humbling experience for Yirtz, don't you think?"   
  
"Yes sir!"   
  
  
-------------   
  
  
Dr. Scott Andrews grumbled to himself as he climbed out of the shuttle, then stopped to stare. Of all the places he'd thought he might be headed, the top-secret headquarters of the Alliance was not one of them. He'd been in the middle of a project on Earth, trying to make psychological profiles of possible Rebels there, when all of a sudden he'd been pulled away from his work without any sort of explanation. New orders, that was all they would tell him when he asked what was going on. And now they'd brought him to the headquarters of the Alliance sector in charge of Alpha colony...   
  
Dr. Andrews was a colonist himself, although he hadn't been back to the colonies in almost a year. He'd been a brilliant student, and lucky enough to win one of the few scholarships provided by the Alliance to take the most promising colonists to the better schools on Earth. Once on Earth, he'd fought hard to overcome the stereotypes most Earthlings had of colonists, and graduated at the top of his class. His thesis was written on how genes affected a person's behavior, and how knowledge of those genes also affected people. Once he'd finished with graduate school, the Alliance offered him a position as an officer in their Intelligence Corps. He wasn't entirely comfortable with everything that they did, but understood how it was necessary to maintain order. He'd proven himself excellent at interrogations, but requested and was transferred off that duty, which is how he ended up where he was now, building profiles of possible troublemakers. He didn't have as much power or prestige as he might have had if he'd continued his work interrogating prisoners, but at least this way he could live with himself. Now they only asked him to do interrogations on very-high level prisoners, dangerous criminals who killed without a second thought, and Scott had no problem interrogating them.   
  
So what was he doing on a top-secret base on Centari? The cost alone to get him there was staggering, there had to be a pretty good reason for them to bring him up here. What was it, a high-level prisoner, or did they want him to do the same work on the Rebels up here that he had been doing on Earth?   
  
"Follow me, sir." One of the soldiers who'd brought him here started off at a brisk pace down the hall, forcing Scott to break into a half-trot to keep up with him. He was delivered to a door, undistinguishable from any other, and told to enter on his own. Nervously he pressed the button and the door slid open in front of him. It opened into an office of some sort, richly furnished without seeming opulent. A middle-aged man with red hair and piercing blue eyes sat behind the desk, and standing next to him was a short, somewhat dumpy man wearing glasses and a lab coat, and behind him, a young man with blond hair in a uniform. Scott carefully saluted. "Sir."   
  
"Welcome back to Centari," the man behind the desk said, standing up and extending his hand. "I am Chancellor Cambel, and this is Director Yirtz, who has selected you for this project." He didn't introduce the third man.   
  
"What project is that, sir?" Scott asked, shaking his hand. He didn't even blink over the fact that the man who had introduced himself as the Chancellor was not the man that spoke as the Chancellor on broadcasts. He was familiar with the steps that had to be taken to protect public figures.   
  
"We require your help interrogating a prisoner."   
  
"I haven't done that sort of work in years, sir."   
  
"I realize that, but this is a very important prisoner, and one where your talents may be useful."   
  
"Who is this prisoner?"   
  
"It is not common knowledge yet, but we have managed to capture the Phoenix."   
  
"The Phoenix!" he exclaimed. Even on Earth he'd heard of the Rebel leader who was such a nuisance to the Alliance. He felt a pang of regret that he'd been captured - in several of his communications with his parents they'd been very supportive of the Rebels, despite his attempts to make them stop mentioning such a dangerous topic. "That's wonderful news for the Alliance, sir, but what does that have to do with me?"   
  
"Quite a bit. You wrote your thesis on how genetics affects people's behavior?"   
  
"Yes, sir," he responded, mystified as to what that had to do with anything and why he'd been brought here.   
  
"The Phoenix is not a normal human. She was engineered as a weapon for the Alliance, but escaped some time ago."   
  
"She? The Phoenix is a woman?"   
  
"The Phoenix is a genetically engineered weapon," Director Yirtz corrected him. "It isn't human." The blond man standing beside Yirtz frowned slightly.   
  
"That's why we brought you here. You may be uniquely qualified to tell us how the genetic engineering affected her mind, and how we can use that during her interrogation. You will not be called upon to perform any of the interrogation personally, your only job is to find out more about how the Phoenix's mind operates. Is that understood?"   
  
"Yes, sir."   
  
"Director Yirtz will provide you with all of the information on the genetic manipulation you need, and with guards, when necessary."   
  
"Guards?"   
  
"The Phoenix is a very dangerous individual - Yirtz will show you a tape later to demonstrate that. Right now she is unable to move, weak because of a failed attempt to commit suicide."   
  
"Suicide!" His professional curiosity was taking over. People who tried to commit suicide were more complicated than most, and more interesting. This added a whole new element to the task they'd set before him.   
  
"Yes, we believe she was attempting to kill herself so that we couldn't break her. She came very close to succeeding, but we managed to save her life. For now you may see her alone, but in a few weeks, unless she is tied down, you will need a guard with you at all times, for your own protection.   
  
"I see."   
  
"We have already arranged for you to have an apartment off-base, if for any reason you need to interview people who should not be brought here, and Director Yirtz will show you to your quarters on base now, and provide you with reading material. You may start questioning the prisoner tomorrow, if you wish."   
  
Scott nodded. "Yes, sir."   
  
Director Yirtz led him out of the office and down several halls. He paused in front of a door with two guards in front of it. "This is where the prisoner is kept. You may view it now for a moment if you wish."   
  
Scott nodded again, uncomfortable with the way Yirtz kept referring to the prisoner as 'it'. Yirtz nodded to the guards, one of whom opened the door. Scott was momentarily blinded by the bright lights in the room, which he identified as a common interrogation technique, then stepped inside. There was a bed in the center of the room, the headboard of which blocked any view he might have had of the occupant. He noticed beside the bed some medical equipment monitoring a heartbeat, and the presence of IV fluids. He walked closer, and stopped short. Lying on the bed was a young girl. She looked to be about fourteen or fifteen, with a peaceful expression on her face. He saw bandages wrapped around her upper arm and stomach. On her lower arms were large metal cuffs, and those were currently attached to the top of the headboard, so that if she woke up she couldn't tamper with the wound.   
  
Scott spun around and ran out the door. He glared accusingly at Yirtz. "You didn't tell me that the prisoner was a child!" he said loudly. "I can't interrogate a child!"   
  
Yirtz frowned. "I don't see why you all insist on referring to it as a child. It isn't a child, has never been a child. It isn't even human."   
  
"It's a little girl!" he practically shouted. "How old is she? Fourteen, fifteen?"   
  
"Actually, it is sixteen years old. And it isn't a little girl - it's a dangerous weapon, and it's the Phoenix. Come along, I'll show you the tape of it's performance."   
  
Unwillingly Scott followed Yirtz away from the girl. Then he saw the tape of her capture, where she cold-bloodedly killed eleven men. "It isn't human," Yirtz repeated, his voice low. "It was designed, just like a gun, to be an efficient killing machine, and now it's turned on us. Many more people will die unless we can figure out what is going on in it's mind. Do you understand?"   
  
"Yes, sir. I'll do it," Scott replied. Yirtz was right. The girl... the prisoner couldn't be human. No human could do the things he had just seen.   
  
-------------   
  
"So, Commander, what do you think of Dr. Andrews?"   
  
"Is there a problem with him?" Laskin asked, well aware of where this conversation was headed.   
  
"Well, for one thing, he's a colonist."   
  
Laskin kept his expression calm. "He can't have Rebel leanings - he never would have survived so long in the Alliance if he did." It was true, he'd investigated the man himself.   
  
"Oh, he's always been completely loyal, and has had great effect searching out Rebels on Earth, but they've never tried him putting him up against his own people. Besides that, he seems rather inexperienced. You don't think Yirtz would endanger the project by picking someone he knew wouldn't be up to the task?"   
  
Laskin frowned. "No. Unstable as he may be, I can't see him jeopardizing the project just because he feels a little put-out. He knows that success here is paramount to his survival, and he's not one to risk himself. If he picked this doctor, he must have good reason for it." And he did. Laskin had investigated that as well because he didn't trust Yirtz, despite the reasons he'd mentioned. Dr. Andrews was young, but brilliant in his own field. His insights might be invaluable.   
  
Laskin had intended to do this task himself, trying to get into her head, but since his first and only meeting with her, he'd been doubting himself, and double-guessing his instincts. It enraged him that she had no doubt done this to him, with this specific purpose in mind, but the fact remained that he had been tainted, and no longer trusted his own judgments. Andrews would be able to bring an unprejudiced view of her, one that Laskin could check against his own observations. Then they might get somewhere.   
  
"I'm glad to hear it. If you thought that Yirtz had become so unglued as to risk the project because of his own personal problems, I would feel constrained to eliminate him immediately, and he may still have some use. In this case, I think we'll leave the young doctor in place, at least for now."   
  
  
------------   
  
  
When Rina finally regained consciousness, the first thing she became aware of was that her stomach hurt. I don't think this is Hell, and it's definitely not Heaven, and it isn't oblivion, either, so I must be still alive. Damn it. Rina opened her eyes and saw that her surmise had been correct - she was still alive, and she felt awful. They must have had one hell of a time saving her.   
  
A feeling of despair washed over her. She had failed to kill herself, and they were obviously determined that she wouldn't have another chance, based on how they'd tied her hands. Now it was only a matter of time until she broke. Maybe it would be enough for the boys to figure out some way to stop the Alliance, to protect Refuge. It was the only thing she had left to hope for.   
  
She heard the whisper-soft sound of the door opening, but couldn't move enough to see who it was. Probably Yirtz come to gloat about her failure. Rina was surprised when a colonist, about thirty years old with a boyish face, walked into her room carrying a chair and a pad to write on. He sat down and stared at her for a minute. Finally she said, "OK, I'll bite, who the hell are you?"   
  
"My name is Dr. Scott Andrews, and I'm here to do a psychological profile on you."   
  
Rina tried to let out a sharp bark of laughter, but cut herself off when the attempt caused sharp pains to shoot through her stomach. "What, they can't torture me for a while so they're going to try psychology?"   
  
He nodded, looking uncomfortable. "That's the most of it."   
  
Rina closed her eyes and thought back. "Andrews, huh? I think I read one of your papers, back when I was trying to decide what I was. It had some decent insights, but most of it was completely routine."   
  
"And what do you know about psychology?" he asked angrily.   
  
"I know enough to get my doctorate degree, if I ever wanted to. My studies weren't as specialized as yours, but they're a lot more useful."   
  
He scribbled furiously on his pad. Rina wondered why the Alliance had picked him to study her - his paper had been excellent, much, much better than she was giving him credit for, but he was a colonist. He was obviously uncomfortable with her, although whether it was fear of the Phoenix or discomfort because he knew what they were doing to her, she wasn't sure. It still didn't make any sense for them to pick him, unless he truly had been converted and had no loyalty whatsoever to the colonies. On the other hand, he was bright enough that they might think it was worth the risk to use him. "You're a colonist," she said, deciding to play this out. Maybe she could find a way to use him herself. "Why are you working for the Alliance against your own people?"   
  
"You mean, why aren't I a killer like you?" he asked in a perfectly normal voice, but Rina caught an edge of anger behind it.   
  
The accusation stung her, just as Mike's accusation had stung so many months earlier. Rina closed her eyes and carefully composed her face. "We're fighting a war here. People die in wars. At least I've never killed innocent women and children."   
  
"And you're saying the Alliance does? Director Yirtz was right, you are nothing more than a weapon who's misfired."   
  
"If you're stupid enough to believe anything he tells you, then you're obviously too stupid to be of any use to the Alliance. I can't imagine why they brought you here," she said, matching his disinterested tone. Then she closed her eyes and refused to speak again.   
  
  
-----------   
  
  
The next day he came back, and the one after that. Sometimes she refused to talk to him, sometimes she talked at length, although never about anything useful. Scott grew more and more uncomfortable with his assignment, because the more he talked to her, the more human she seemed. On the few times he could get her to talk about it, he got the impression that she disliked killing. At least, most days she was like that. Other days she described the operations she had planned and told him statistics about the number of people who had died, all things the Alliance already knew, but they served to remind Scott what she really was. Still, he maintained doubts about whether or not she was human, and whether she did or did not enjoy killing. Of course, when he mentioned that to Yirtz, the man said that Scott was allowing himself to be manipulated, that she was created for killing, so how could she hate it. And of course he referred to the Phoenix as 'it'. Whenever Scott had doubts as to what she really was, though, he could replay that tape, watch as all the expression drained from her face and she killed eleven men.   
  
He spoke a few times with the young man who had been present at his interview the first day, and discovered that he was some sort of special investigator. He seemed to be the only one who was interested in his honest opinions about the girl... the Phoenix, and asked some fairly probing questions. But he never gave Scott any indication of whether he approved or disapproved of his observations, so Scott continued on the way he had been, uncertain.   
  
One day, when she seemed to be particularly talkative, he ventured to ask a question that had been in his mind since the first day. "Why did you try to kill yourself?"   
  
She glanced down at the white scar splashed across her stomach - there was little external evidence remaining to show that she'd been shot, although only a few weeks had passed. The doctors said that her insides still looked like a mess, and that still a week or so remained until she was well enough for the interrogation to continue. Then she glanced away. "That's a stupid question," she said in a disapproving tone. "Especially since the answer is so obvious, and everyone here knows it. Ask one of them."   
  
"I want to hear it from you," he said patiently. It wasn't the answer that mattered so much as the way she spoke and whether or not she was going to say it at all.   
  
"Typical," she muttered, and he thought she was going to go silent on him, but she continued to speak. "I tried to kill myself so that they couldn't continue to torture me and get the information in my brain."   
  
"For the survival of the Rebels," he said, making a mental note that whatever had twisted her mind had done it quite well, so that she was completely loyal to the Rebels, even beyond her own life.   
  
"Stop making assumptions."   
  
"So what was it for?" he asked, his tone perfectly neutral, not showing the surprise and curiosity he felt.   
  
"To save lives, and not just of the Rebels."   
  
"Can't you be more specific?"   
  
"I thought we agreed no more stupid questions today."   
  
He sighed. With anyone else, there might have been a chance that he could trick them into revealing something, but she never missed a trick, and he wondered if he'd revealed anything himself without realizing it. The only information he had gotten was about her personality and how her mind worked, which, of course, was his job, but he wished he could do more. He decided to provoke a response. "You always claim to have a great respect for life, for a killer."   
  
"Why do you always insist on calling me that?" she asked in a weary tone, as he had known she would. She hated being called killer, and surprisingly enough, she didn't like being called Phoenix, either. That was a definite contradiction with what he'd been told, and he made a mental note to mention it to his superiors. "What has fixed this image of me in your mind? You're supposed to enter a situation like this with an open mind, and you obviously haven't done that. Bad practice."   
  
The truth of her statement hit him - he usually did try to enter each new case with an open mind and making no assumptions, but that had been impossible here. First he was told that she was the Phoenix, which put a whole set of expectations in his mind, then he saw her as a little girl, and finally as a cold-blooded killer. Three entirely different images in his mind before she even spoke a word. Of course, he also called her killer to get a reaction, but that did match the image in his mind. He opened and closed his mouth a couple of times, then said, "I've seen the video of your capture."   
  
"Oh." She fell silent for a second, then said, "Do you know how many people the Alliance has killed? Do you have any idea what they'd do if they manage... when they manage to get into my head?"   
  
"Don't start on this again," he said disgustedly, and privately wondered what had happened to her mind that her view of the Alliance was so twisted, that she viewed it as a dominating organization rather than a organization that enforced peace. Certainly there had been excesses at times, but becoming a Rebel wasn't the solution. Outright killing was never a solution. In part, Scott had remained with the Alliance as long as he had because he believed that the only good solution when there was a problem with a government was to join that government and affect changes from the inside.   
  
"Fine, I won't." She sighed and tried to shift position, impossible the way she'd been bound to the bed. "It's pointless, as long as you persist in thinking of the Alliance as the good guys. It's ridiculous, really. The guys were less stubborn than you, but then they were smarter than you too."   
  
"That's enough," he said sharply. Information about 'the guys', the other products of Project Titan, might be useful, but it also opened him to charges of conspiracy. It was far too dangerous a topic for too little gain. "We were talking about your capture."   
  
"Fine, we were. Do you want to hear me say that I killed them, or do you want me to deny it, so that you can write down that I'm delusional or a liar?"   
  
"I want the truth," he said calmly. He knew the truth, and he knew that she knew the truth. Her response would be based solely on how she thought that she could affect him the most strongly. This was the sort of thing that could be useful, the things that he passed along to Director Yirtz.   
  
"I can't believe that you're still working for the Alliance," she muttered. "How on Earth do they get so many honest people to work for them? Fine. I killed them, one at a time. There was no accident about it - I could have spared their lives, and I didn't. I deliberately took eleven lives, and I would have taken more if I could." She paused and stared at him, obviously gauging his reaction. "I see you don't like the idea of killing, rather ironic, for a member of the Alliance. Let's take it a step further... Do you want to know how I felt while it was happening?"   
  
"What did you feel?" he asked, trying not to feel sick. She seemed deadly serious and almost cheerful at the same time, and it helped cement the image in his mind of her. A killer who had no sympathy for those she killed, one who felt no remorse, either.   
  
"Absolutely nothing. The Alliance created me well, and even though I didn't undergo the same emotional training as the others, it still affected me. I felt nothing when those men died, no sympathy for them, nothing for the people around me, who had to be terrified. The only thing I was thinking about was how to kill more of them before they caught me. I felt no different than if I had swatted a few bugs, that's how I felt."   
  
Scott just stared at her in absolute horror.   
  
"So, doctor, are you still interested as to why I did it?" her voice was mocking, but he forced himself to nod yes. This could be valuable information, and it was the first time he'd been able to get her to talk this much about herself. It was good, direct information - he couldn't pass up this opportunity.   
  
"There are three reasons actually. The first is that if I let them live, eventually they'll be back on the front lines, trying to kill my people. By eliminating a possible enemy now, I may save some of my people later. Second, it adds to the reputation of the Phoenix, those few who know about me, that I could kill so many people so easily. It may make them hesitate later, and that might also save some of my people. The third reason is also quite simple, when you think of it. I try but I still can't control what I am. I am what the Alliance made me, and that is, quite simply, a killing machine. I was just performing my function." She smiled grimly. "Are you happy now?"   
  
He shot her a look of pure horror and rose to leave. At this point he didn't care if he was giving up an opportunity to learn something, he just wanted to get away from this girl/thing that the Alliance had created.   
  
"Dr. Andrews!" her voice rang out commandingly before he could reach the door.   
  
He turned to look, dreading whatever was coming. "What?"   
  
"Just one more thing for you to think about. If the Alliance's motives are truly good, if the violence is just a case of a little excess, then why was I created?"   
  
"What?" How could she know how he felt about the Alliance's actions?   
  
"I have only one real function, Yirtz has also told you that fact. We were designed to kill. Why would a peaceful Alliance design killing machines with human exteriors and train them as assassins?"   
  
  
-------------   
  
  
"Director..." one of the lab aides said quietly. "I think you should listen to the recording of Dr. Andrew's latest interview session."   
  
"I've seen it."   
  
"Well, don't you think we should do something? She... it's obviously trying to turn him against us."   
  
"Let it try. Andrews is very highly rated, and he's never shown any signs of Rebel sympathies."   
  
"He's a colonist, sir, that's evidence enough to pull him off the project if you say so."   
  
"I picked him because his insights have already been invaluable to us. He's identified some problems with our techniques, and now we will be able to correct them. As soon as she's ready to start interrogating again, we'll have a new direction to go in, thanks to him. Unless I see some direct evidence that the Phoenix is having some effect on him, I'm leaving him where he is. Are the braces ready?"   
  
"Yes sir."   
  
"Attach them in a few days, but before she's able to get around on her own. There won't be any more mistakes, is that understood?"   
  
"Yes sir."   
  
  
------------   
  
  
Dr. Andrews tried to continue his work as usual, but her words stuck with him. Why would the Alliance create killing machines? It didn't make any sense. He couldn't work up the courage to go back to her room for several days, and the problem was exacerbated, four days later, when he received word that his talks with her would have to be shortened because she had been deemed healthy enough to continue interrogation. As soon as he received that news, he went to her room.   
  
She was sitting up in bed, her hands resting on her lap, the lower part of her body hidden from view by the headboard at the end of the bed. She'd managed to move herself so that she was facing him. "I just received word," he told her. "Your interrogation resumes tomorrow."   
  
"Lets not be euphemistic," she said wearily, staring at the bed in front of her. "It's torture. Interrogation is when they ask you questions, torture is when they do things to your mind and body to force you to answer those questions."   
  
He wanted to tell her that it wasn't like that, that the Alliance wouldn't do that, but he knew it wasn't true. So he remained silent, and walked a few steps into the room. "Why don't you tell them what they want to know?" he suggested softly. "Then they wouldn't..."   
  
"Wouldn't what?" she cut him off softly. "Destroy the few people in the colony with the will to resist their total control? Kill them, or worse, keep them as slave labor? Do you think they won't do the same to me, either keep me as slave labor, or test me to see what went wrong with their project and then kill me? Don't be ridiculous. Every day I resist is one more day for them to prepare for the worst."   
  
He took a few steps closer and froze. There was some sort of wire frame around the bottom of each of her legs, starting just below the knee and extending several centimeters beyond her toes. The frames apparently held her feet in a pointed position, but he couldn't see what other purpose they might serve.   
  
She saw him looking at her legs. "They locked these on me yesterday," she said. "They don't want to take any chances that I might try to kill myself again. They figure if I can't run or even stand up, I can't possibly fight. These things are a lot heavier then they look. I can, with difficulty," her voice became strained as she grabbed one of the frames with both hands and pulled at it, "lift one leg at a time to shift position, but I could never move both at the same time. I suppose I should be grateful they didn't just amputate my legs, but that only proves they're planning to do tests on me after I break. I'd rather they had cut them off then help them later." She stared silently at her legs.   
  
"Phoenix, I... I'm sorry," he said, also staring at them.   
  
She turned to look at him. "Dr. Andrews, you're really a decent person, you just have some incorrect views of the Alliance, and I don't think I'm going to have time to correct them. It makes it impossible for me to ever really want to help you, but you remind me of someone else I know, so I'm going to give you some advice. Get out of here. Get out of the Alliance. Get back down to Earth and start teaching there, or something. People like you aren't going to last very long in the Alliance."   
  
"You know I can't do that."   
  
"I knew you'd say that," she said with a sigh, leaning back against a pillow. "Which is why I gave you the advice. You are my enemy after all." She closed her eyes, and he realized that she'd said all she was going to say, and nothing he could do would make her say anything else. It was that silence that Yirtz and the others were trying to break, and he suddenly realized that he couldn't help them with that, not after this. He turned and walked out of the room. He could request some time in Alpha colony, time for him to rest and think, to decide what he was going to do now, whether he really could take that girl's advice. And he had some questions he wanted to ask. 


	20. Part 19

Several days later Scott knocked on the door to Julia Surd's house. He had a list of all the people who were known to have associated with the Phoenix in her alter ego, Rina Krace, and was visiting them one by one. It was an activity that the his superiors approved of, and one that was giving him a lot of information. Of course, he wasn't allowed to speak to Ambassador Krace, who was still suspected of having Rebel sympathies, especially now that his daughter had been revealed as one of them, but Andrews could still visit other people who had contact with her. He'd saved Julia until near the end of his list, wanting to see some other people's responses before he got to Rina Krace's best friend, or at least the equivalent. Rina Krace had no real close friends, with good reason. The responses from her acquaintances had varied greatly - some people refused to talk to him until he threatened to bring the Alliance military into it, and others spoke at great length about her. Some said that she couldn't have done what she did, others refused to make a judgment, while others believed the accusations. There were those who openly supported the Rebels, and others who outright condemned them, but no common belief. The only constant among all of them was their fear of the Alliance and of retributions for whatever they said to him. It was a fear that ran deep, a fear that had increased since he had left the colonies for his studies on Earth.  
  
A maid answered his knock, and asked, "Can I help you?"  
  
"Yes, I'm here to speak to Miss Julia Surd."  
  
"May I ask who is calling on her?"  
  
"My name is Dr. Scott Andrews and I work for the Alliance. I'd like to speak with Miss Surd about Rina Krace."  
  
The woman gasped and started to close the door in his face. Well used to this performance, Scott stuck his foot in the door. "Mam, please inform Miss Surd that I am here or I will be forced to return with guards. Armed guards." He put a bit of an edge in his voice to make it sound threatening. She gave a startled squeak and then let him in.   
  
"Please wait here," she told him, and hurried out of sight. There was an unusually long wait, then an older woman came out.  
  
"I am Mrs. Surd," she said in a forceful voice. "Why do you want to speak with my daughter?"  
  
"She's known to be an acquaintance of Rina Krace, who was arrested for treason against the Alliance a few months ago."  
  
"Surely you don't believe my daughter had anything to do with those Rebels?"  
  
Scott sighed. This wasn't the first time a frightened parent had tried to run interference for their children, and he was getting sick of it. The Alliance wasn't some monster that was going to snatch their children and run off with them. "As a matter of fact, she is an acquaintance of Rina Krace, who is a Rebel, and so she has had something to do with the Rebels. My job here is to gather information about Rina Krace, but if I can clear your daughter from any hint of suspicion, I would be glad to do that, too." Actually, there was no hint of suspicion about Julia Surd. If there had been, he certainly wouldn't have come here, but her mother didn't know that.  
  
"It's all right mother," said a soft voice. An eighteen-year old colonist girl walked into the room. "I haven't done anything and Kelli said he threatened to bring back guards if I didn't cooperate." Andrews was impressed by her poise, that she managed to continue smiling even as she repeated this threat. It must be something that those whose parents were involved in politics learned instinctively, since several of the children he'd interviewed had similar mannerisms. "This way sir," she gestured gracefully with one hand, but he noticed it trembling a little and knew that she was as frightened of him as all the others.  
  
She led him into a small study and gestured for him to take one of the seats while she took another. "What do you want to talk about?" she asked, glancing nervously at her hands clasped in her lap.  
  
"I told your mother already. I'm here to discuss Rina Krace."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Rina Krace," he replied a bit louder, wondering if she was slightly deaf. The room was pretty quiet, and he hadn't spoken that softly. She blushed bright red and looked down at her hands again.  
  
"Oh. What did you want to ask?"  
  
"I wanted to ask what sort of person she was."  
  
"Very nice. She never spread any rumors, even about people who told lies about her. She was kind of a loner... but I guess that makes sense now."  
  
"So you had no idea about her Rebel leanings?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Tell me more about her."  
  
"What do you want to hear? She was a good student... I had a good time when we went out together, but we hadn't done that in months before she was arrested..." Her face clouded up and a tear worked it's way down her cheek. "I'm sorry," she exclaimed, blotting at the tear with her handkerchief. "Ah, what else?" she murmured to herself as she reigned in her tears. "She... she was very kind to me when my father died, and she was just a little kid then..." she suddenly cut herself off. "I'm not going to tell you that I always was suspicious of her, or that I thought she might be a Rebel, even if I didn't have any evidence. I won't tell you anything that will get her convicted. She was... is my friend, if she's still alive," she added a little sourly.   
  
He stared at her, refusing to confirm or deny her comment, and she looked away. "I'm sorry, I just miss her, and I'm worried about her. No one has seen or heard from her since she was arrested, and you hear these stories... I guess they're all just ridiculous. Is there anything else?"  
  
"No, nothing else," he said with a sigh, wondering what on Earth he was doing here. Of course none of Rina Krace's acquaintances would know anything about the true her, about whether or not she was a killer. She'd been too busy pretending to be Rina Krace to let anything like that slip. He bade her a polite goodbye and managed not to comment on how her hands trembled when he shook them. She was worse than most of them, absolutely terrified of the Alliance.   
  
As he walked out the front door and down the street, he wondered what else he should do. He'd spoken to most of Rina Krace's acquaintances, and learned nothing new about the Phoenix. The only thing he had learned was that most of the people living in the colonies had a great deal of fear of the Alliance. When had that happened? When he left, nearly ten years ago, people had been anxious but not outright terrified, not like that girl, not like several of the other kids and their parents too. When... and more importantly... why had things changed so much?  
  
Scott still had several days left before he had to return to headquarters to continue his work with the Phoenix, if he didn't ask for a transfer before then. He decided to call his parents tonight. They lived in Bertin colony, and he hadn't spoken to them in months. They strongly disapproved of his decision to join the Alliance, and didn't talk to him much anymore. A wall had grown between them since he joined the Alliance - he couldn't talk about his work at all, and half of what they said could get them arrested if he'd ever reported it. He never would, of course. He'd never report anyone he knew. They could probably tell him why things had changed so much, if they'd speak to him. He could also call on some of his old friends - some of them were living in Alpha colony now - and ask their opinions. At the very least, it would give him something to do for the next few days.  
  
----------  
  
Julia Surd waited several minutes until after the Alliance agent left. She had almost managed to convince herself that he was gone and hadn't suspected anything when her mother opened the door, almost causing her to jump out of her skin.   
  
"Juli, are you all right?" her mother asked worriedly. "He isn't going to..."  
  
"No, he just asked me about Rina. I don't think they suspect me at all. I think he just wanted to make you let me talk to him. He knows I've never had anything to do with the Rebels. I just need some time alone to think."  
  
Her mother nodded and closed the door, leaving her in silence. Julia thought, feeling very guilty about lying to her mother. But she couldn't tell anyone about this, at least not right now. She promised herself that as soon as it was safe she'd tell her mother everything. For now, she walked over to the base of the pedestal right next to where the agent had been sitting. With trembling hands she withdrew the tape recorder, reassuring herself that it was still recording. She stopped it and took out the tape, then put the tape recorder back where it belonged on the desk and replaced the tape that had been in it. Pocketing the other tape, she breathed a sigh of relief. Now there was no evidence that she'd done anything at all, except for the tape in her pocket.   
  
She sat down at the desk and pulled out the phone. Dialing the number they had told her so many weeks ago, she remembered their instructions: "If you have anything, call this number. When it picks up you'll hear a click and nothing else. Say that you have something and then hang up. We'll handle the rest and it ought to keep you safe."  
  
The phone rang once and then she heard a click on the other end as someone picked up the phone. "I have something," she whispered into the receiver. There was a pause on the other end, then a click and the dial tone as whoever it was hung up on her. She put down the phone and slumped back in the chair. she thought. she told herself. After a few seconds the other boy returned. "It's all clear," he hissed. "Come on."  
  
"Wait, how will I know if I did any good?" she asked.  
  
"Watch the news, honey," he replied as the Asian boy joined him on the sill.   
  
"No, I want to help if I can," she replied, following them to the window. They exchanged another glance.   
  
"We'll let you know if there's anything you can do to help," said the first boy. Then they disappeared into the darkness.  
  
-------------  
  
"So what do you think?" Herc asked in a low voice as they took a roundabout route back to the base, just in case. "Can we do anything with it?"  
  
"It depends whether he's a regular staff member of the base," Kan replied. If he was, then they'd have no record of him, and it would be very difficult to find him. Basically they'd be back where they started, but Kan didn't mention that. "If he isn't, then they must have brought him in from somewhere. We know that he was in Alpha colony today, unless they're shuttling him back and forth every night, he must be staying somewhere. If we can figure out who he is, and if we can find out where he's staying, and if he hasn't returned to the base already..."  
  
Herc sighed. That was an awful lot of 'ifs' and they both knew it. But this was the first time they'd had any sort of ID of a person who worked on that base. They had to use it. Especially after that girl risked herself to get them the information. She must have liked Rina a lot, to put herself in danger for them even though Heero had killed her father. Then it suddenly occurred to him that maybe she didn't know that Heero had killed her father. Heero and Arthur had made the first contact. Arthur had a way of not telling the whole truth at times, in order to get people's cooperation. Had he done the same here? Herc decided. He had a hard time picturing that girl knowingly helping people who had among them the person who had killed her father, no matter how good the cause or how long ago the incident was.   
  
He heard footsteps behind him. "We've got company," he murmured to Kan, who nodded.   
  
They picked up their pace a little, trying to force whoever was following them into revealing themselves. With a slight jerk of his head, Kan indicated a dead-end street. Without speaking, they turned at exactly the same moment and walked into the alley. It was done with an unconscious coordination that was the result of living and working together for more than sixteen years, for their entire lives. Knowing what the plan was without speaking, Herc retreated to the end of the alley, where he was closed in on three sides by tall walls. Kan flattened himself against the wall near the entrance and changed both his skin and hair to dark black. In the dim light he was almost invisible, especially if he kept his eyes mostly closed.   
  
Sure enough, the Alliance soldiers that were following them fell for it. There were two of them, both fairly young, obviously inexperienced normal soldiers, not even elite. Nothing that either he or Kan couldn't handle while blindfolded. The lead soldier ran down the street, brandishing a large blaster. "Freeze!" he ordered and his voice trembled. Herc cracked a smile. The level of skill and confidence among the Alliance soldiers was certainly falling.   
  
"Hey, I don't want any trouble here," Herc said, grinning broadly as he raised his hands in the air while Kan silently moved around behind them.  
  
"Hey!" the second soldier exclaimed. "It's him! The one we're looking for!"   
  
"Shut up!" the first one said. "Where's your buddy?"  
  
"I'm right here," Kan said from behind them, returning to his normal appearance. Both men jumped and spun to face him, aiming their guns. In a few seconds they realized what a bad idea this was, and the second one turned back to face Herc, reinforcing his opinion that the quality of soldiers was dropping.   
  
"How did he do that?" he hissed to his partner. Herc noted with some amusement how much the gun in his hand was shaking. This guy was really scared. Herc decided to have some fun.  
  
"Hey, you want to take them, or should I?" he called to Kan.  
  
Kan's eyes narrowed slightly as he realized what Herc was doing, then he also smiled. "You can have them," he said with a negligent wave of his hand, and both men went absolutely white. They almost looked like colonists, except for their colored hair.  
  
"Really? Are you sure? You let me have the last ones too." Herc was making all of this up off the top of his head, and having a great time.   
  
"No, it's no problem. They're not worth my time," Kan said with a slight shake of his head.  
  
Herc shrugged. "If that's how you feel..." he launched himself at the nearer of the two as Kan launched himself at the other. Herc turned his body and slid to the right as a bullet passed through the space he had just occupied, then slammed his fist into the man's jaw. The helpless soldier immediately dropped to the ground. Herc grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him up off the ground, hand poised to strike if this was some sort of trick, but the man really was unconscious, so he held back the killing blow. The truth was that he felt somewhat sorry for these humans who had obviously been completely out of their league, and badly informed too. If they knew anything about their targets, they would have called in backup once they spotted them.   
  
Herc thought as he completed a quick search of the man. He found nothing unusual - these were just two street men who had the misfortune to notice them. He stood up, noting that Kan had killed his man. "That was fun," he remarked.  
  
"Speak for yourself," Kan replied. "This one's gun hand was shaking so much that I wasn't sure which way to dodge." He glanced at Herc's man. "You didn't kill him," he observed.  
  
Herc shrugged. "Didn't feel like it. He'll give some of his comrades nightmares about us. That could be interesting."  
  
Kan made a noncommittal sound. "Lets get back to base before we have anymore company."  
  
They made it back to the base without any other problems. "Should we check this first or report to Heero?" Herc wondered out loud.   
  
"Let's check it," Kan advised. "We don't want everyone getting excited over nothing."  
  
They went to their room, which was empty. Kan seated himself at the computer they'd gotten installed in here. He pulled out the tape and stuck it into a slot reserved for this function. In a few minutes he had two distinct vocal prints showing on the computer. He got a quick match on one of them - it was the girl - which meant the other one was the Alliance agent.   
  
"It would probably be easier to narrow the search first," Herc advised. "There can't be that many colonists working for the Alliance."  
  
"I'll do that," Kan replied through clenched teeth. He was obviously irritated at Herc for telling him something so obvious.  
  
"All right! Take it easy! You can take care of it, I know! It's just... this is Rina we're talking about here!"  
  
Kan's expression softened slightly. "I understand," he said shortly. "Ah-ha. I have it. There are currently one thousand, seven hundred and fifty-three colonists working for the Alliance."  
  
Herc let out a low whistle. "That many?" he asked, surprised.   
  
"In an organization of several million, that's not very many," Kan said as he started trying to match up the voiceprint.   
  
"Yeah, but still..." Herc fell silent as the computer flashed through hundreds of entries in just seconds. They'd know pretty quickly if he was located in the regular files or not.   
  
Suddenly a file appeared on the screen, along with a picture of a colonist. "We have a match," Kan said, sounding more than a little stunned.   
  
Herc was not so reserved. "Woo-hoo!" he shouted, raising a fist into the air. "Do they have a location on him?"  
  
"Just a second, I'm checking," Kan told him. "His current post is classified... not surprising, that, but..." he actually smiled, sitting back in his seat. "They've also got him a hotel room here in Alpha. And it says that he'll be here for two more days. We've got him."  
  
------------  
  
The next night Scott was depressed as he returned from a friend's house. Things had changed greatly since he had left the colonies, and definitely for the worse. By everyone's account the Alliance had become even more militaristic and more flagrant in its disregard for people's rights. The Rebels had more sympathy in the minds of the colonists than anyone at the Alliance had realized, and they seemed to have good reason, too. By now Scott realized that while the girl might have been lying about some things, she hadn't been lying about everything, and her statements about the Alliance had been mostly true. He knew that he couldn't go back to the base tomorrow and help interrogate the Phoenix anymore, and he wasn't even sure if he could return to the Alliance at all. But what would happen to him if he attempted to resign?  
  
He was feeling somewhat lethargic as he closed the door to his hotel room and reached his hand out to turn on the lights. The feeling fled rather quickly as a hand reached out and gripped his wrist, then twisted it up behind him and pushed him against the wall. He felt something cold pressing against the back of his head. "Freeze," ordered a low voice, "and you might live through this." Scott obediently froze.   
  
He heard the sound of curtains being closed, and then a pair of handcuffs was tightened around his wrists, and his still unseen attacker threw him backwards onto the bed, and the lights were flicked on. Scott stared in shock and then growing horror as his eyes adjusted to the light and he could make out three figures. There were three boys, all about sixteen years old and all carrying a number of weapons. They wore expressions that didn't belong on any child he had ever seen. They were very, very threatening. "That's him," the boy standing farthest from him said. "Is he armed?"  
  
"No," the boy standing closest to him said. This was the one who had grabbed him when he first came in.   
  
Scott's eyes threatened to burst out of his sockets. "You're... you're the ones from Project Titan, the ones that got away! You're... you're One and Four and Five!" He recognized their pictures from the background data he'd been given on the girl.  
  
One glanced at Four. "Will this be a problem?"  
  
"Shouldn't be," Four replied. He opened a box and set it on the bed beside Scott. "It might even help. Put him in the chair."  
  
Scott froze in terror as One walked over and easily lifted him off the bed and set him down none-to-gently in one of the chairs provided by the hotel. It was easy to look at a file and know intellectually how strong these genetically engineered children were, but it was quite another thing entirely to experience that for yourself. He'd never seen it with the Phoenix because of the way she'd been held, but now he could see the necessity of holding her that way. There was no way that ordinary handcuffs could have held her. His eyes widened in terror as Four pulled out a hypospray. He started to flinch away as Four reached for his neck, but was surprised when he felt a slight prick on his arm instead. "What are you doing to me?" he demanded, terrified.  
  
"Calm down," Four advised in a bored tone, pulling over the other chair and sitting on it, straddling the back with his legs. He rested his arms on the back of the chair, looking completely calm and in control, as if he'd done this hundreds of times before. Scott realized what he was doing, how he was using a combination of drugs and attitude to establish his position before interrogating his prisoner - he'd used those methods himself - but he'd never seen it done so well, with such confidence, as if he knew that no prisoner could hold any secrets from him. Scott told himself, trying to remain calm, but all of the data he'd seen on them only served to heighten his terror.  
  
"It's just your basic interrogation, something I'm sure that you're familiar with. It won't be so bad," Four continued. "This stuff isn't half as painful as the stuff I used when I was working for the Alliance, but it is more effective. This will go a lot easier for you if you don't try to resist. If we hear everything we want to know, we'll keep you alive as a prisoner, and you'll be relatively comfortable. If you resist..." he shrugged practically. "Then we'll have to start on the methods the Alliance prefers. I doubt you'll be able to hold out a day, but that's just my opinion. We'll see." And with those terrifying words in his mind, Scott slipped into a drugged stupor.  
  
--------------  
  
When he woke some time later, he didn't know how long, the first thing he remembered hearing was, "He's coming out of it, right on time." He saw the three boys sitting on the bed, looking at something.  
  
"What happened?" he asked, trying to wake up.  
  
"You cooperated," Four said, walking over and putting a glass of water to his lips. "Drink this, the drug dehydrates you."  
  
"I... what?" Scott asked after he swallowed the water.  
  
"You cooperated, otherwise you'd feel a whole lot worse. Good job."  
  
"How... how long has it been?"  
  
"Just under an hour."  
  
"What did I tell you?" he asked, trying to remember what had happened.  
  
"Everything we need to know," Five replied with a wicked grin. He was writing something.  
  
"You're planning to attack headquarters," Scott said slowly, trying to draw some facts out of his muddled brain. "I remember... I told you the location, didn't I?"  
  
"You didn't resist at all," Four said, looking at him thoughtfully. "Why is that?"  
  
"I... I don't know," Scott lied, thinking of his earlier thoughts about whether or not to return to the Alliance at all.  
  
"Don't lie, I know when you do." Four opened his mouth to say more, but a gesture from One brought him back to the bed to stare at whatever Five was writing. Scott saw One's mouth move, but no sound came out. Four stared at him, glanced at Scott, and then nodded. He picked up the paper and walked back over to Scott. "Is this the layout of the base?" he asked, holding up the paper so that Scott could see it.  
  
"How did you know that?" Scott demanded in a harsh whisper before he realized he'd given himself away.  
  
The boys exchanged a glance, and Five grinned again. "I designed the base's security when I was five. They didn't tell me the location, but they gave me the layout for me to design the security around. The fools haven't changed it since then."  
  
Scott paled as he realized what this meant, that they knew every aspect of the security for the base, and that presumably they could bypass all of that security. The Alliance headquarters was at their mercy, now that they knew its location, thanks to him.   
  
"You never answered my question," Four said, turning back to him. He studied Scott's face, then broke into a grin. The expression made his face seem impossibly young. "Rina's been working on you, hasn't she?"  
  
"Rina? You mean the Phoenix?" Scott asked. "What do you mean, working on me?"  
  
"Teaching you the truth about the Alliance, the same way she did with us," Four said, still smiling. "You were having doubts already, weren't you?"  
  
"You're going to rescue her, aren't you?" Scott felt a hint of hope in his mind. Maybe the Phoenix wouldn't be broken, maybe the Alliance wouldn't take over the colonies completely...  
  
"What should we do with him?"  
  
"Bring him back to the base. We'll figure out what to do with him later."  
  
"Wait! Did I tell you what they did to her? What they did to her legs?"  
  
Four, who had been about to inject him again, paused. "Her legs? You mentioned that she was under heavy guard, heavier since she tried to kill herself." His hand drifted towards his own stomach.   
  
"No, this is new," Scott told them hurriedly. "They locked these... these frames around legs. She can't even stand up, so she can't try to run at the guards and kill herself."  
  
Four turned to look at the other two. "He's telling the truth." He fell silent, but the others stared at his face, then stared at Scott. Finally One nodded.  
  
"Take him back to the base. See..." he fell silent again, moving his lips silently, and the others nodded. Then Four touched the hypospray to his shoulder, and he was instantly unconscious.  
  
-------------  
  
Arthur was much quieter than Heero would have expected, under the circumstances. They had a good shot of retrieving Rina now that they had this data, of doing major damage to the Alliance. Even Kan was showing signs of excitement, but if anything, Arthur was quieter now than he'd been on the journey to Scott Andrew's hotel room.   
  
"There are some soldiers coming," Arthur suddenly said.   
  
"I don't hear anything," Heero said, glancing around.  
  
"They're coming," Arthur repeated. "Come on, put him between us."   
  
Heero had been carrying Andrews' unconscious form over his shoulder - they could move faster this way. Now he slung him down, and positioned the body between himself and Arthur, making it look like two men helping a third friend home after too much partying. A few seconds later, he heard the well-timed footsteps of Alliance soldiers, and a minute after that he saw them marching down the opposite side of the street. The three boys kept their heads down, shoulders hunched, and the soldiers didn't even give them a second glance. Heero observed. If he'd been on duty he would have checked anyone out this late.   
  
"How did you know they were coming?" he asked when they were out of hearing range.  
  
"I don't know, I just did. I'm working on it," Arthur told him, his expression still distant. "Rina will have to hold out for a few more weeks," he said, almost to himself, but his comment startled Heero, who would have expected him to be in favor of running off to rescue Rina this very night.   
  
"Why?" he asked.  
  
Arthur glanced at him out of the corner of his eye. "We're not just talking about a strike, Heero," he said in a tone that suggested that he was surprised Heero had asked him the question. "Rina and I talked about it a few times. It's not just a strike. It's *the* strike. The strike that will take out the Alliance in Alpha colony for good."  
  
"Are you serious?" Kan asked him.  
  
"We're going to be attacking the place where all of the Alliance's leaders in Alpha colony live. Also where they keep many weapons. Now we know the security system, and we know we can beat it. If we attack now and fail, even if we rescue Rina and just pull out, they'll change the security, and we may never have this chance again. Now, and only now, will we have only the soldiers stationed there to deal with."  
  
"What about the Alliance soldiers in Alpha colony? That's where most of them are stationed, you know," Kan told him.  
  
"If we can take out the leaders, the rest will fall," Arthur stated with confidence. "Our numbers have swelled since Rina's capture. We should be able to get enough volunteers together to strike both the base and later the Alliance bases in the colony."  
  
"It has the possibility of success," Heero admitted. "But it's a major move. It will take time to organize."  
  
Arthur nodded. "I know. That's why Rina's going to have to hang on for a few more weeks. We have to organize, to gather the soldiers... arrange to have all the government people together and ready for us..."  
  
"Government people?" Kan asked with a frown. This time Heero saw where Arthur was going, but still allowed him to answer.  
  
"Someone's going to have to run the colony after we get rid of the Alliance. Rina was planning for that eventuality, too, but it will still take time to bring it all together. I just hope she can last that long." Arthur took the full burden of Andrews' body from Heero, tossing him over a shoulder. "A lot of people are going to die," he said sadly. Heero wasn't sure if he was expecting an answer or not.  
  
"But it's the only way that they're going to be free," he said, trying to comfort Arthur, a little. "This could mean an end to it all."  
  
"I know," Arthur said, smiling a little, but there were tears in his eyes. "Freedom for the people, an end to the death, and getting Rina back. That's all that matters."  
  
------------  
  
The next day, they called a meeting of Rina's entire inner circle. "We've found their main base," Heero told the assembled. "Julia Surd was approached by an agent of the Alliance who was trying to find out more information about Rina. She managed to record his voice, and we made a positive identification. Last night we captured and interrogated him. We have the location of their main base."  
  
They stared at him, shocked. He wondered, for a moment, whether they were going to question his judgment, or even suggest that the main base was beyond their reach. He was ready for all of those possible objections, so it came as a surprise when they all exchanged a glance, then Mike leaned forward and asked, "When is the strike?"  
  
------------  
  
TRANSCRIPT OF DIALOGUE FROM BASE 231.8 STATUS: SECURITY LEVEL 1 DATE: 22.08.22 TOPIC: EXTENSION OF AGENT 3458'S OFF-BASE MISSION  
  
A: Andrews has just sent a request to extend his stay for two more weeks. He says that he is gaining a lot of useful data on the Phoenix. I have approved his request.  
  
B: I see.  
  
A: You're not happy. Displeased that your idea to try to get into her head didn't work?  
  
B: Disappointed, slightly, but already Dr. Andrews has had some valuable insights. What worries me is your constant failure to break her. By your own admission, even your creations would have broken under what you've put her through. So what is sustaining her?  
  
A: I have not determined that yet. But I will.  
  
B: Until you do, I will continue to worry. Especially since I believe half of the reason you approved his request was to keep him away from the prisoner a little longer.  
  
A: He asked for it.  
  
B: Indeed. Just keep in mind our final goal is to break her, it doesn't matter who does it.  
  
-----------  
  
Another two weeks passed, and then one day right after school Kelli stuck her head into Julia's room. "Miss, there's a boy here to see you."  
  
"A boy? Who is he?"  
  
"He says his name is Arthur."  
  
"I don't know any Arthur," Julia said with a frown.  
  
"He said to tell you he is Heero's companion."  
  
"Heero?!" Julia said, her head jerking up as if someone had pulled a string. "Send him in right away!"  
  
Kelli shot her a worried look, then disappeared out the door. A few seconds later the boy whom she'd seen with Heero at Mr. Krace's house walked in through the door. He looked completely different in her brightly lit room in the middle of the day then he had in the shadowy study that night. He was wearing a pair of slacks, a white shirt, and a pale blue vest over it, and looked quite handsome. Julia thought, remembering who and what he was. The other three boys and Rina were all quite attractive physically.   
  
He closed the door behind him, then, standing back from the window, said in a low voice, "How serious were you about wanting to do what you could to help?"  
  
"What?" she asked excitedly, rising. "What's going on?"  
  
He stared at her, then walked across the room and closed the curtains across her window. "We were able to put the information you gave us to good use, and we've located the position of their base. What's more, we've discovered that we have intimate knowledge of their security system. We're planning a strike. The strike."  
  
Julia felt all the blood drain out of her face as she realized what he was saying. "You're talking about taking Alpha colony from the Alliance. Permanently."  
  
He nodded. "We've been planning for this, but we didn't realize it would come so soon. We've made plans to defend the colony from any retaliation the Alliance might make, and plans to help the colony itself, but we can use you."  
  
"For what?" she asked, and was ashamed when her voice came out as a squeak.   
  
"After we take over, there's going to be chaos. All of the Alliance soldiers in the colonies will be confused, and they may start trouble. We've scattered people all over to take care of them, but we're also worried about the normal people who will just be afraid. We have good rulers, people the Alliance has chased out of office because of their sympathies for the colonies, but they're people the colonists trust. They'll be following us to the headquarters immediately after we take over, to make public announcements on the Chancellor's channel, to comfort people. We want you to make some announcements, too."  
  
"Me?" she asked in a whisper.  
  
"Yes. You have more influence than you let yourself believe. People respect you and listen to you, both because of your father and because of what you've done since then. It's common knowledge that you'll probably be a Representative in the next five years, and more than that, you're one of them. If you also spoke on our behalf, it could calm a lot of fears. You would be following us in with the other diplomats - the element of danger is slight, but it is still there. More than the danger of physical harm, though, is the fact that even if we fail, people will find out you have Rebel sympathies, if not that you're a Rebel yourself. If we fail, it could become *very* dangerous for you."  
  
she thought, and then realized it was true. She was consorting with Rebels, had spied upon an Alliance agent and led to his capture... even if she'd only had contact with the four boys, she was a Rebel by any definition. She nodded. "I'll do it."  
  
His expression, or lack of one, didn't change. "Thank you. Then you have to come with me now. I'll take you to one of our bases where you'll be safe until we make our move. Come on."  
  
"What about my mother?"  
  
He stopped to stare at her. "Your mother?" she remembered. "Leave a note for her, but hurry," he said impatiently.   
  
Julia paused long enough to scrawl a note to her mother, saying that she was staying with friends for the next few days, then she followed Arthur... if that was his real name... outside. He stepped out the door, looked around, and a car pulled up in front of them. "Get in," he murmured, and when she hesitated, he grabbed her wrist and pulled her inside. The car sped off towards regions unknown.  
  
-----------  
  
Arthur took her to a building near the edge of the dome, took her to a largish room, and told her to stay there. Then he hurried off. She was left by herself, staring around wide-eyed as an impossibly large number of people moved in and out of the tiny base. Where were they all coming from? She found no answer to her question, and started seeing other unusual things. She caught glimpses of faces that she thought she recognized, politicians and diplomats that the Alliance had accused the Rebels of assassinating years earlier. Where had they been all this time? At one point a young man named Mike came over to ask if she needed anything, and to tell her he'd send someone to fetch her when it was time.   
  
Then a plump, older woman came over and sat down next to her. "You're a newcomer, aren't you?" the woman asked.  
  
"Yes mam," Julia said meekly, feeling somewhat overwhelmed by all of this.  
  
"It's astonishing, isn't it?" the woman asked as if she could read minds. "I know, it was like that for me too, when I first arrived. The Alliance wants everyone to think that the Rebels are just a few hundred individuals, struggling for survival. Never in their worst nightmares could they imagine the level of organization we have here, and they have no idea of what we truly have." She laughed a little, then held out her hand. "I'm Emma Green."  
  
"I'm Julia Surd. Arthur... one of the boys... brought me here."  
  
"Julia Surd! They want you to make one of their announcements, don't they?"  
  
"Yes. Do you know them well?"  
  
"Fairly well. I met Arthur when the Phoenix first brought him here, before he was turned. I didn't even realize it. I never would have realized it, except that he came to me later, to apologize for my husband." She fell silent, blinking tears from her eyes.   
  
"I'm sorry, I don't understand, apologize for what?"  
  
"For doing the Alliance's dirty work."  
  
Julia felt as if she was missing something crucial in this conversation. "I still don't understand. What did he do?"  
  
Emma shot her a sharp look. "What do you know about the boys?"  
  
"They were created by the Alliance, and Rina rescued them from the Alliance, and they've been working with her since then."  
  
Emma suddenly sucked in her breath. "They didn't tell you?"  
  
"Tell me what?"  
  
"The boys... they used to work for the Alliance, as assassins, before they came here. I thought they would have told you before you came here."  
  
"Assassins?" Julia felt faint, and her mind flew back to her original conversation with the boys, how Arthur had suddenly interrupted Heero before he said something about the assassin. What had he been about to say?  
  
"Please, don't hold it against them," Emma said hurriedly. "You can't..." she trailed off.  
  
"They lied to me," Julia murmured, rising. She walked across the room to the center of the activity, and found Arthur, Heero, and another boy she didn't recognize talking to a large group of people. She noticed Emma hurry off out of the corner of her eye, but was focused on her target. As the group of people broke up, she saw the other two boys arrive. They froze when they saw her. "I need to talk to you," Julia said to Heero and Arthur.  
  
"Then talk," Heero said in an emotionless voice.   
  
"In private."  
  
"We're busy. Say it now or don't at all," he told her, not even glancing in her direction.  
  
"Did you kill my father?" she demanded.  
  
He blinked, then turned his eyes away from some building plans laid out on the table. "Yes."  
  
She slapped his face as hard as she could. Her hand hurt a lot, and he didn't so much as move his head. "You shouldn't do that," he said mildly. "You might hurt your hand."   
  
"Is that all you have to say?!" she demanded, tears running down her face. She was aware of all the other boys staring at her with identical emotionless expressions. "You're a bunch of murderers!" Now most of the room was staring at her, but she didn't care, she was too full of anger and hate and sorrow as she remembered her father's death. Suddenly someone grabbed her shoulders and dragged her out of the room. She suddenly found herself in a tiny room, sitting on a small cot with Mike sitting opposite her.  
  
"What do you think you're doing?!" he demanded angrily.  
  
"They lied to me!" she shouted at the top of her lungs. "Heero killed my father! They told me the Phoenix killed the man who killed my father!"  
  
Mike just stared at her for a second, then squeezed her shoulder. "Oh, kid, I'm so sorry. I didn't realize." He left his hand there for several minutes until she got control of herself. "You're Julia Surd, aren't you?"  
  
"Why did they lie to me?" Julia demanded as he stepped back.   
  
"Julia, if I know Arthur, he didn't feel that he was lying to you."  
  
"What the hell does that mean?"  
  
"When Rina captured Heero, turned him against the Alliance, the person he was ceased to be. So she did destroy the person who killed your father, by turning him against his former masters."  
  
Julia shook her head. "How could Rina do this to me? How can you trust them? They're all murderers!"  
  
"Julia, they're loyal to us now. They've saved a lot of lives, fought against the Alliance, and now they're going to help us free this colony. We couldn't have done this without them."  
  
"But how..."  
  
"Julia, do you have any idea what the Alliance did to those boys?"  
  
"They were Alliance soldiers. They probably just killed old people in their spare time for fun," she replied angrily.  
  
"They were not Alliance soldiers. They have never been Alliance soldiers," he said, suddenly intense. "They were Alliance property. Slaves. They were told that they weren't human, and they believed it. Their masters told them what to do, and they did it. If they ever hesitated, if their masters even thought that they were thinking something wrong, they were tortured, the same way they're torturing Rina now, except for them it was years."  
  
"They took my father away from me!"  
  
"The Alliance took your father!" Mike snapped. "The same way they've taken other people's families, the same way they've taken other people's homes... I know, I also worked for the Alliance once. If anything, I'm worse than those boys, because I had a choice, and I chose to work for them for several years. When I left, they took whatever career in regular society I might have had. But none of that means anything when you compare it to what those six children have lost!"  
  
"Six children..."  
  
"Rina and the boys, all of them. They've lost an innocent childhood, and the boys lost the first fourteen years of their lives. Rina never was a child, and because of her upbringing she chose to become the Phoenix when she was twelve. Twelve, do you understand me? What were you doing when you were twelve? Listening to music and going out with boys. When she was twelve she was organizing strikes against the Alliance and doing commando missions. Those boys that you hate so much, they were created so that the only time they could be happy was when they completed a mission. Heero is still that way. Do you understand what that means? He can never be happy unless he's fighting, even if he hates it. If you have to blame someone, blame the Alliance, and if you can't do that, blame me, because they don't deserve it, and none of them will try to defend themselves!"  
  
Julia stared at him silently, shocked by his outburst and the things he had told her. "Why didn't they tell me?" she asked again in a whisper.  
  
"Would you have helped them, helped Rina, if you knew what they used to do?"  
  
"I... I don't know. I guess not."  
  
"Look, with any luck, by this time tomorrow we'll have Rina back, and the Alliance won't exist here anymore, and then you can have this discussion with Rina, all right?"  
  
Julia nodded, unsure what she was feeling. "Why won't they defend themselves?"  
  
Mike sighed. "They know that they've been conscious adults since the day they were born, responsible for their own actions. They refuse to consider extenuating circumstances. As far as they're concerned, if they were stupid enough to be tricked by the Alliance, then it's their own fault, and they're still responsible. No matter that they had no way of knowing they were being tricked, no matter that they were lied to from the day they were born. None of that matters to them." He paused. "Let me see your hand."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Because I want to make sure you didn't hurt it, hitting Heero. I've seen brick walls that were softer." There was a soft knock on the door, and then it slid open. Arthur stood there. Julia unconsciously pulled back.   
  
Arthur stepped into the room and closed the door behind him. "I wanted to apologize to you for lying to you," he said simply. "We needed your help."  
  
"Heero..."  
  
"Heero doesn't apologize for anything, he just fixes his mistakes. Some mistakes you can't fix, but he's doing his best by fighting the Alliance."  
  
"Arthur, do they need you..." Mike asked.  
  
"I'll get back out there in a minute. They'll need us to start loading the shuttles soon. They need you too, Mike."  
  
Mike nodded and left the room, and Julia realized that Arthur had subtly asked to speak to her alone. "I just wanted to say that we're all sorry," he said softly.   
  
"I... I've hated you... the people who killed my father... for so long, and then I found out that it was you, and I helped you, but it wasn't really you..."  
  
"It was us. We were being used by the Alliance, but it was still us."   
  
They always take responsibility, Mike had said.   
  
"Mike told me... they used to punish you for disobedience."  
  
"No, not for disobedience. None of us would have dreamed of disobeying, if we dreamed. And it isn't quite the way he said. I was the only one who was punished regularly, mostly because I did have dreams."  
  
"They did do some horrible things to you, though."  
  
"We survived and it made us stronger."  
  
"You're not very good at pitying yourself, are you?"  
  
"No."   
  
"Is your name really Arthur, or is that just a code name or something?"  
  
"It's my name."  
  
"And the others..."  
  
"The names we gave you are the real ones, the only ones we've ever had. We chose them for ourselves. The Alliance called us by numbers."  
  
"What was your number?"  
  
"Four. Arthur is my name, though. Please don't ever use the numbers, or any numbers for any of us. We left that behind. But those are our only names. Rina is the one with dozens of names and identities." He was silent for a few seconds, then said, "Will you still help us?"  
  
"Yes. I wasn't doing this for you, not ever. I was doing it for Rina and my father and all of the people that he used to talk about helping, the ones the Alliance was hurting."  
  
Arthur nodded. "Do you still hate us?"  
  
"I'm not sure. Just don't let Heero get close to me. I don't know what I'd do, and it sounds like the Rebels still need him. And I'm a Rebel." 


	21. Part 20*

In the shuttle on the way over, Arthur was reviewing the layout of the base in his mind. Heero and Kan were going over there first in a small shuttle. They'd land the shuttle and then send it away on autopilot for the Alliance to chase. Then they were going to hit the base's security center fast and hard. They were going to have to worm in through a rather small heat vent, wearing protective suits, and Herc had remarked that it was a good thing they were trying this now, or they would have had to find another way in. Even in the skin-tight heat-resistant suits it would be a tight squeeze. In another year, they would have been too big to get in. They knew that the basic security hadn't changed since Kan designed it over ten years ago. If they hit it fast enough, they should be able to capture the security center and disable most of the nasty traps that Kan had put in there, the gas, the hidden mines, the lasers, and the self-destruct system. Of course, there was security on the computer that controlled those systems, but Arthur had designed the system, and had given Kan a password that ought to skip through any security they'd put up. They were very lucky that so little had changed. Arthur thought critically.   
  
Arthur was leading one of several main attack groups. Even if Heero and Kan succeeded in taking the security center, there were a base full of troops to worry about, and they couldn't be disabled with a switch. A lot of people were going to die today, and for once, Arthur wasn't worried about that. He was worried about not being one of them, and about seeing Rina again. Her attempt to kill herself hadn't worked, he knew that, but he'd been having lots of nightmares in the last few weeks, and the psychologist had said that they'd started torturing her again. She wasn't as used to torture as the boys were, hadn't been trained against it as well - had she survived with her mind intact?  
  
"We're less than a minute from touch-down," he heard over his helmet radio. "Seal your suits."  
  
--------------  
  
Heero, who was slightly larger than Kan, just barely managed to squeeze through the heat vent in his specially designed suit. It fit him like a second skin, but still he barely fit. Herc had been right - if they'd waited another few years, they wouldn't have been able to come in this way. They slid through the vent down two stories and finally landed in a larger area where many different air vents connected. Heero looked at Kan, who mouthed the words, "When we get to the end of the tunnel, we have to kill the two men immediately. From then on we have a little more time, but it has to be absolutely silent until then."  
  
"You're sure you can disable the self-destruct?" Heero mouthed in response.   
  
"Sure, a little bit of extra energy directed through that system will fry all of the circuits. I found the flaw in my plans a few years after construction on this place ended. I tried to tell Mem, but he wouldn't listen to me." There was a sort of grim satisfaction on Kan's face now, but it disappeared as Heero started crawling down the next tube. Now there was only the mission, and they were on a schedule.   
  
It took less than three minutes to crawl to the vent that fed into the security center. Once there, Heero used specially designed tools to cut through the bolts that held the grill in place, then to hold the grill as he silently slid it out of the way. He glanced at Kan, who nodded. They were ready. Heero took a deep breath and then launched himself silently out of the tunnel, Kan followed a moment later. Heero hit the man on the right in the back of the neck with both of his clenched fists. He heard bones crunch there, then caught the body before it could fall to the floor with a loud bump. He looked over and saw Kan silently laying his kill on the ground. Kan held up a finger to his lips to indicate that there was still a need for silence.   
  
Then Kan stood up and his hands flew across the control panel. Several lights went out, and Kan said out loud, "I've deactivated the systems that keep watch on this room, and the ones that are supposed to watch the security system itself. I'm deactivating the rest of the security systems now," he said, keeping up a running commentary. That took several minutes, and Heero saw that they were cutting the timing very close. Kan knew it too. "Should I open the doors now, or take the time to disable the self-destruct first?" he asked.  
  
"Self-destruct," Heero replied immediately. They couldn't chance that someone would hear about the attack and get to the self-destruct before it could be disabled. They had to disable it first, then signal the attack. But all this time the shuttles would be hanging around on the surface, where they would be very conspicuous. At least Kan had already shut down the weapons systems.   
  
It seemed to take a very long time for Kan to complete his work, but in reality less than two minutes had passed when he said, "Done. Opening the doors now." They were on schedule, just barely, and Heero breathed an inaudible sigh of relief as he saw the doors open on a monitor. Immediately several people inside were sucked out because of the near-vacuum, and alarms started going off.   
  
"Here," Heero said, handing Kan one of the guns he'd taken off the men they'd killed. "Let's see if we can get to the office of the Chancellor."   
  
  
------------  
  
  
"There's no anti-aircraft fire," reported the nervous voice of their pilot. "Those boys must have done it. Prepare for insertion."  
  
Arthur carefully checked the seal on his space suit - they couldn't actually land in one of the shuttle bays, they were going to have to land outside and run inside, then move through the base. At some point, hopefully right after they entered the base, they were going to have to lose the suits. It was impossible to move in these things in narrow corridors. He felt the shuttle shift position slightly as the pilot maneuvered, then a felt a thud as the shuttle set down. He was already unbuckling his straps and moving towards the door when the order came for them to get off. He jumped through the door before anyone else, dropped the thirty feet to the ground, and hit the ground running. Behind him the shuttle hit the ground and the rest of the men (and women) streamed out. The huge slab of earth that had hidden the base had been raised out of the way, obviously Heero and Kan's work, and there was no resistance as they ran inside the bay - apparently they'd caught the people on the base by surprise. That wasn't much of a shock - the base had remained hidden for over fifty years, there was no reason to suspect that anything would happen now, much less an all-out assault.   
  
Arthur waited impatiently for all of his group to get inside, then closed the main door and flooded the room with air. "Come on!" he shouted. They couldn't pause to take off the suits yet - they needed to use the surprise to their advantage. He burst into the hall and gunned down two soldiers who happened to be walking nearby. He checked the rest of the hall. It was empty. He frowned as he started stripping out of his suit, a process which took him less than thirty seconds. He'd expected more initial resistance.   
  
  
-------------  
  
  
Michael dispassionately surveyed what was left of the people who'd been working in this bay as it opened, then lead his team inside. Almost immediately they met with resistance, a number of guards behind a hastily erected barricade at the end of the hall. "Take cover!" Michael shouted as three of his people were hit. He quickly reviewed the plans of the base in his head, then shouted to one of his squad leaders, "Take your men back down that way!" he pointed down the hall. "Take the first door on your right, then the third right, then the second, you should be able to flank them. Call if you run into any problems." The squad leader nodded and ran off.  
  
"Michael," Herc said, his voice just loud enough to be heard over the battle. "I'm going after Yirtz."   
  
Michael nodded. They really only needed one of them here, and Michael also wanted to make sure that they caught Yirtz. "Go," he said. "I'll meet up with you later."  
  
Herc nodded and ran off after the departing soldiers seeking to get around the Alliance soldiers, although not for the same reason.  
  
  
----------  
  
  
Everyone started following Arthur's lead when he took off his suit, and in less than a minute they were all ready to go again. They started a thorough search through the base, eliminating or stunning every Alliance soldier they ran into. They'd made it through perhaps an eighth of the base before they met any organized resistance at all. Ten minutes after the strike began there was more resistance, but by then the invaders greatly outnumbered the defenders, and they made progress quickly.  
  
A half-hour after the invasion started, Arthur met up with Michael. "How's it going?" he asked.  
  
"We don't have the whole base yet," Michael told him as he waved some of their men to continue. They weren't really needed to spearhead the attacks anymore. "But it's falling fast." He closed his eyes for a second, and Arthur could see him calculating. "Heero and Kan were going to try for the Chancellor's office after they got through with their business, and Herc went after Yirtz."  
  
"Has anyone gotten to Rina yet?"  
  
"Not yet," Michael replied in a low voice, but Arthur detected a hint of worry in it.  
  
"According to the information we got, she should be only a few corridors from here."  
  
"That's where the worst of the fighting is."  
  
"Do you think they're defending her position?"  
  
"Makes sense to me. Let's go."  
  
They quickly agreed on the shortest way to Rina's room, then started in that direction. There were more Alliance soldiers there than anywhere else, but the boys were determined, and it appeared that a number of the soldiers knew who they were, because they were obviously terrified of the two cold-faced teenagers who led the attack against them. Again and again a single Alliance soldier would turn and run from the fighting, each time with devastating effects on the Alliance's defensive line. They were driven back and back, until finally they stood in front of what should be Rina's room. The two boys stopped after indicating for the rest of the men to continue on. Most of them still didn't know who Rina was, although the majority knew that a major Rebel leader had been captured. They didn't know it was the Phoenix. That would change soon.  
  
Arthur wasn't sure if there was some sort of bomb trigger attached to the lock that would go off if they just shot it, so he took a few extremely long seconds to bypass the door's security (which was independent of base security), then forced the door open through sheer strength. Bright lights momentarily blinded him, and he recognized them as a common interrogation method to keep the subject awake. He stepped into the room. A bullet hit the wall directly to his right, just inches from his ear. "Stop where you are!" ordered a voice that made his heart jump.   
  
"Rina?" As his eyes adjusted, Arthur saw Rina sitting on the floor against the wall. Around her legs were metal frames, just as the psychologist had said, and metal sheathed her arms from wrists to elbows, holding them close together, but in her right hand was a gun, aimed right at him. Six bodies lay on the floor around her, five with bullet holes visible in their foreheads, and the last had a crushed throat, and a long piece of white cloth wrapped around his arm.  
  
"Stay where you are," she repeated in a cold voice.  
  
"Rina," Arthur took a step closer, then froze as a bullet hit the ground right in front of his foot.   
  
"I said freeze," she said again.   
  
"Rina, it's me!" Arthur cried, wondering if indeed she had survived her imprisonment with her mind intact.  
  
"Arthur, I can see you," she said in a cold voice. "But don't move. I don't think it's really you. I realize that I've been hallucinating a lot recently, and I know that the Alliance is still trying to get into my brain. This is just another trick to break me."  
  
"It's not a trick," he said slowly. "We captured the psychologist, Scott Andrews, when he came to Alpha, and questioned him. He gave us the base's location, and we arranged an attack. Can't you hear it?"  
  
"I've been hallucinating a lot of things," she said. "An attack like this is more normal than most of them." Then she frowned a little. "But you're alive." Now she sounded confused.   
  
"We're alive, and so are Heero, Herc, and Kan. They're in another part of the base, but they're all fine," Michael said in that soft voice of his.  
  
"In all the hallucinations, you're always dead," she said softly. "And you tell me things... I can't believe it. I never truly believe it, not long enough for them to break me, and then I wake up. But I'm not waking up now. That either means that they've finally gotten to me or that this isn't a hallucination."  
  
"It's not a hallucination," Arthur said. They hadn't broken her, but they had driven her to the brink of insanity. Or perhaps she'd driven herself there, hoping they might not be able to get anything useful out of a raving lunatic.   
  
"Arthur, come here."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Put down the gun and come here. And keep your hands where I can see them. Last time I saw you, you shot me to get revenge for your own death. You too, Michael."  
  
Arthur exchanged a helpless glance with Michael, then they both dropped their guns and started to walk over. When he reached her, Arthur dropped to one knee. "Put your hand in mine," she instructed before he could say anything. He obediently reached out and touched her left hand, the one not holding the gun. It was pressed up close against her right hand, because of the cuffs, but she instantly focused on him. She started trembling violently, and the gun fell from limp fingers. "You're real," she whispered. "I can feel you." Suddenly she leaned forward as far as she could, pressing her face against Arthur's shoulder. "Oh my God," she sobbed. "I can't believe it's really you!"  
  
Arthur immediately wrapped his arms around her and hugged her. It felt like the most natural thing in the world to do, and Michael also knelt beside her and put a hand on her shoulder. After a minute she stopped crying and wiped her eyes. "It's really you," she said, sounding amazed. "I never even dreamed... the only hope I had was that I'd buy you enough time to build a defense against the Alliance. What happened?" She suddenly sounded much more like herself.  
  
"We were planning defenses, but we managed to capture the psychologist."  
  
"Dr. Andrews?"  
  
"Yes, you did a good job preparing him for us. He didn't resist at all. Let me see those cuffs." She obediently held out her arms towards him, and he examined the locking mechanism on the underside, where she couldn't get at it. He pulled off the panel and started poking at the jumble of wires underneath.   
  
"I wasn't thinking about preparing him for interrogation, I was just trying to deny the Alliance one more soldier," she said, glancing at Michael. There was an edge of excitement to her voice. "This isn't just a rescue operation, this is a full-blown attack," she said, her voice full of wonder.   
  
"We've almost taken the entire base," Michael informed her. "Heero and Kan should have already disabled the self-destruct and most of the security. And we've got the diplomats and politicians ready to make their announcements as soon as the way is clear, just the way you planned."  
  
"You mean... it's actually going to be over?" she asked, tears forming in her eyes again.   
  
"If we planned everything right, it should," Michael said. "If not, there's going to be one hell of an explosion, and it ought to take all of us with it."  
  
At that moment Arthur managed to short-circuit the cuffs, and with a click, they came loose and fell to the floor. Rina immediately started rubbing her arms, which had shrunk slightly where the cuffs had been. Then she caught both boys by surprise by throwing her arms around their necks and pulling them in for a hug. Then she gave Arthur a kiss on the cheek. He stared at her in shock. "Just returning the favor," she said with a smile. "For the one you gave me while I was sick."  
  
"You remembered that?" he asked, amazed.  
  
"I've been hallucinating a lot of things," she said softly. "They started putting me in the chamber a couple weeks ago, that's when I really couldn't tell when I was hallucinating or not. Three hour spells, twice a day. I think I started hallucinating even without the drugs."  
  
Arthur stared at her in horror, wondering what place she'd found inside herself to hide from the torture, the way he'd found a place. "It's all right," she said weakly. "It's behind me now, I guess, although it's going to give me some interesting nightmares." She went back to rubbing her arms. "I am so glad to have those damn things off." She smiled, a little stronger this time, then leaned forward and scratched her back. "I've had an itch I couldn't reach for the longest time..."  
  
"It doesn't look like it made much of a difference," Michael commented, glancing around the room at the bodies.  
  
"Oh. Them. They decided to come execute me when the fighting started. One of them got a little too close for his own good, and I used the gun on the rest."  
  
Arthur grinned, glad at having her back. It had been like there was a piece missing from him, an ache in his heart all the time she'd been gone. "Help me up?" she asked, staring at her legs. "We've got to find the keys to these things." Arthur looked at Michael, then they both put Rina's arms over their shoulders and pulled her to her feet. Arthur could feel the weight of the frames. They weighed a ton. "Yeah, I know," Rina said when he turned his head to look at her. "The only good thing is that they didn't cut my legs off. But I want these things off now." The edge was back in her voice.   
  
"They should have captured the Chancellor by now," Michael said. "I bet he'll know how to get those things off. From there we can also start transmitting the messages, once the way is clear."  
  
"Yes, I want to see that," Rina said with a smile. "Let's go."  
  
  
-----------  
  
  
Chancellor Cambel sat silently, listening to the sound in the corridor outside his door and fingering the self-destruct button hidden in the armrest of his chair. He was waiting for the leaders of the invaders to come in, he wanted to see their faces just before he hit the self-destruct button. He listened to the sounds of battle for a long time, then they suddenly ceased. He took that to mean that the fighting was over, and that his side had lost. Now he was waiting for the leaders to arrive, that could be the only explanation for the delay. Laskin stood at his side, tense but ready to die.  
  
They'd tried to send out a warning, or a distress call, to one of the other Alliance bases just before communications went down, but no one knew if it had gotten through or not. Cambel hoped it had, otherwise other bases could be caught off-guard just as this one had been. How had those filthy Rebels gotten past the security? And where had they gotten such intimate knowledge of the base?   
  
Laskin seemed to read his mind and spoke. "It has to be the psychologist. I should have been more suspicious when he requested more time in the colony," he berated himself. "But it had all the proper codes and came through the correct channels. It has to be him - either he went over to the Rebels or they managed to capture him." He sounded very angry with himself.  
  
"At least we'll know that the majority of the Rebels die here," Cambel said, but it didn't seem like much of a consolation, now. He hadn't entered the Alliance expecting to die for them, but what other choice did he have? At least he'd see the Rebel leaders before he killed them.   
  
He didn't have long to wait. Less then five minutes passed, then the door opened and two large men carrying guns stepped inside. He smiled, this was what he had been expected. He got a shock, though as the two men stepped into positions at the sides of the door, obviously guards. They were followed by two boys, barely out of adolescence, both carrying guns in holsters under their shoulders. "Look, it's the real Chancellor," the first boy said to the other with a cruel smile. The other merely nodded, not taking his eyes off Cambel.   
  
Laskin's swift intake of breath gave him the clue he needed to figure out the boys' identities. "You... you're from Project Titan!" Cambel said. Then he remembered the button in his chair. "No matter. I just wanted to see who orchestrated this event before I ended it." He smiled triumphantly, and pressed the button in his chair arm. The smile immediately died as nothing happened.  
  
The boy who'd spoken smirked. "Here's a bit of advice for you, Chancellor. Next time someone designs a base and then becomes the enemy, it might be wise to change the security system."  
  
"What?" Cambel leaned back in his seat as he realized what the boy was saying. "You..."  
  
"I must admit," the boy said, glancing around, "You did do a good job turning my plan into reality. But it was *my* plan, so it wasn't too hard for me to bypass the security. The first thing we did was disable the self-destruct."  
  
"Hey guys!" said another voice. A third boy came in, dragging a handcuffed Yirtz with him. He pulled hard at Yirtz' shirt as he crossed the threshold, sending Yirtz sprawling to the floor. "Look what I found! Wanna have some fun with him?"  
  
Cambel saw real fear in Yirtz's eyes as he struggled to get back to his feet, but his attention was pulled away when the last boy, the one who hadn't spoken yet, finally deigned to speak. "Is Dr. Ethen still alive?"  
  
"Yes," Cambel replied, seeing no options but to cooperate. He was aware of Laskin glaring silently at him, but he had nothing left, no way to complete his duty to the Alliance by destroying the base. If he didn't cooperate, they could (and would) force the answers out of him. He wasn't even sure whether to hope that the Rebels killed him or not.  
  
"Where is he?"   
  
"He was transferred to a prison on the moon months ago."  
  
"One! Two! What do you think you're doing?!" Yirtz said shrilly, finally regaining his feet.   
  
"Stay down," said the boy who'd brought Yirtz in. He gave Yirtz a kick that sent him sprawling to the floor again. "And the name is Herc, Yirtz," he said with a sneer.   
  
"What happened to the hero of the Alliance?" Laskin asked softly, directing his comment at the lead boy.  
  
"I've decided I'd rather be a hero of the people," the boy replied. "I've never met you before." There was a hint of question in his voice.  
  
"That's Commander Laskin," the remaining boy said slowly. "He was the liaison to Earth Command. I saw his file. He's got enough power and respect for our needs. It looks like we've got everyone important all here together. Is the other shuttle coming in?"  
  
"I've just signaled them. We've got a safe corridor for them to get here from the bay. There's still some fighting in the corridors, but it should be taken care of in a matter of minutes."  
  
"What shuttle?" Yirtz demanded, but everyone in the room ignored him.  
  
Suddenly all three boys turned to look at the door. Two more boys walked through the portal, supporting a third person between them. The girl's legs, encased in metal frames, dragged against the ground, but she held her head erect as she hung between the two boys. "Rina!" exclaimed the one who had called himself Herc, and they all turned to face her.   
  
"Phoenix," Cambel acknowledged her with a nod, and he heard a surprised murmur out in the hall.   
  
Her eyes rested on Laskin for a few seconds, then she turned to Cambel. "Chancellor, I'm only going to ask you this once. Where are the keys to get these things off my legs?" she demanded in a calm voice. She knew who was in control here.  
  
Cambel accurately read the threat in her voice. "I don't know," he said honestly. "I left all business pertaining to you to Yirtz down there."  
  
She stared at him silently for a moment, then transferred her gaze to Yirtz. Before she could say anything, the boy on her right growled, "Where is the key, Yirtz?"  
  
"How dare you?!" he shouted, sounding truly pathetic. "I created you!" he got cut off when Herc kicked him again.   
  
"Just answer the question!" he snapped.  
  
"No," Yirtz said with a superior smile, and Cambel hoped that these kids would kill Yirtz right here, or at least kill him so that he didn't have to go on living, knowing that he'd allowed a fool like this to remain in his service for so long. He glanced at Laskin and saw he was grimacing.  
  
Herc clenched his fists, but paused when the Phoenix spoke again. "Don't touch him, Herc. I think I have a better idea. In the past weeks I've become quite familiar with a toy of his. It's called the chamber. What do you say that we put him in it for a while and see if he'll tell us where the keys are then?"  
  
"I think I like that idea," said the boy on her right with a predatory smile.  
  
"I know I like it," Herc said, roughly jerking Yirtz to his feet. "What do you think, Kan?" He gave Yirtz a shove that sent him stumbling across the floor.  
  
The boy who had spoken first also smiled. "Rather fitting, I would think."  
  
The other two boys didn't speak, but they both smiled.  
  
"No! You wouldn't dare!" Yirtz gasped. "Four! You can't let them do it!"  
  
"And why can't I?" asked the boy on the girl's right. "Aren't you happy, Doctor? I'm finally just what you always wanted. I think I'm ready to enjoy torturing someone. Isn't that just perfect, how I'm going to make everyone happy? And my name is Arthur."  
  
Yirtz turned dead white, but when Kan gripped his arm and started to pull him towards the door, he fumbled for a chain around his neck and pulled it free. A small cylinder of metal with several indentations was attached to the end of it. "Here it is!" he cried, thrusting it frantically at Kan. "Take it! Just don't hurt me!"  
  
"Coward," Kan remarked disparagingly, then a strong push sent Yirtz back to the floor and Kan walked over to the Phoenix. He bent at her feet, fiddling with the key. There was a click, and one of the frames came off her left foot. In a few seconds, he had both of her legs free, and she was able to stand on her own. She rubbed her legs for a minute, then straightened up and smiled.   
  
"It's great to see you all again," she said, and embraced the three boys who had been here when she arrived. "Are they on their way?"  
  
"The shuttle just landed in the bay, they should be here in less than a minute," the leader replied.   
  
"Who's coming here?" Cambel asked.  
  
"We're going to do a transmission from here," the Phoenix said, looking around. "I think that we're going to need some more room, don't you?" she directed her comment at Arthur, who smiled. The other boys all smiled at almost the same time. She picked up Yirtz with one hand and lifted him off the ground by his collar with no hint of effort on her part. His face turned very red as he struggled for air, then she tossed him out the door. "Lock him up somewhere," she called outside.   
  
"Yes, Phoenix," came the reply, and to Cambel's surprise, something akin to a wince passed over her face.   
  
"You," Laskin suddenly muttered. "You lied. You aren't really the Phoenix."  
  
Cambel frowned. "You mean the whole time she wasn't really the Phoenix?"  
  
"No, she is the Phoenix, but that isn't who she really is. She's Rina Krace most of the time, not the Phoenix. The entire time we were pushing at her through interrogation the wrong way, because she told us that she viewed herself as the Phoenix. We were so stupid!"  
  
She stared at Laskin thoughtfully. "Get him out of here," she ordered slowly. "And lock him up until I decide what to do with him. He's far too smart for our own good, and far too dangerous to remain free." Cambel noticed that she was tapping her fingers against her leg. When she saw him staring, she stopped. Laskin submitted to the hands of the guards without a fuss, but he continued to stare at the Phoenix over his shoulder for a long while. She waited silently as Laskin moved out of the room, then looked at Cambel. "How did you ever get the loyalty of one like that?"  
  
"His parents were killed by Rebels on Earth when he was still a child."  
  
"Was it really Rebels, or did you just frame them too?"  
  
"To the best of my knowledge it was really Rebels," he said with a sigh. "What are you planning to do with me?"  
  
"I say we just kill him," Herc suggested. He drew a gun from behind his back and aimed it at Cambel's head.   
  
"No," the Phoenix said. "We're going to have a trial. A very public trial, where we expose everything that he's done, everything the Alliance has done, all of the minor colonies they've destroyed, the people they've had assassinated, we're going to lay the whole thing on his head for all of Earth to see, and the rest of the colonies, too."  
  
"Then we kill him," Herc said excitedly.  
  
"Nope. Then we send him back to Earth and let his superiors deal with him. Yirtz too."  
  
Herc, who had begun to look disappointed at the beginning of her comment, brightened greatly at it's conclusion. "Sounds good to me," he said, putting away his weapon.   
  
Cambel clenched his fists, and wondered if he attacked the Phoenix if the guards would shoot him and end it here, before he was publicly humiliated before the entire galaxy and then sent home, where the Alliance would surely execute him. His thoughts were interrupted when people started filing into the large office, over a dozen of them, all politicians and diplomats who had been forced out of office by the Alliance years earlier, and had been presumed dead. "What? How?" he asked.  
  
"They're the people that are going to take over governing Alpha colony, at least until we can have some real elections," the Phoenix said, a satisfied smile on her face. "I've been planning for this for years. In some minor way, I should thank you. It could have been years before we were finally able to take Alpha colony from you, if you hadn't captured me." She trailed off as a young woman, her face flushed with excitement, walked into the room. "Julia? What are you doing here?"  
  
"I'm here to make a public announcement, on behalf of my father," the young woman said.  
  
"Julia was the one who helped us capture the psychologist," Arthur said quietly. "We told her the truth about you, and about ourselves, too."  
  
"Julia, I..."  
  
"It's all right. We're going to have a long talk when this is over, little girl," the woman said with a smile, and embraced the Phoenix. Then she turned and walked up to Cambel, who was still standing behind his desk, frozen in shock. She raised her right hand and slapped him, hard. He sagged back into his chair, one hand on his burning cheek. "Murderer," she murmured in a low voice, and her eyes were filled with tears.   
  
"Get him out of here," Arthur ordered. "He'll just get in the way. Find out everything he knows, then lock him up. Make sure he can't hurt himself before the trial."  
  
And with that, Chancellor Cambel, onetime ruler of Alpha colony, was handcuffed and dragged away like a common criminal.  
  
  
----------  
  
  
A few weeks later, after the craziness of the transfer of power had died down, the leaders among the Rebels had a celebration at Ambassador Krace's house. Most of the Alliance soldiers in the colony who survived the initial attack by the Rebels had shown signs of resisting until Gregor MacRall, acting as temporary President until a more solid government could be hashed out, made a public announcement that any Alliance soldiers who surrendered would be given passage back to Earth. After that, there was very little trouble, except with an occasional soldier taking it into his head to bring back the Alliance.   
  
As for the Alliance itself, they immediately sent ships to Alpha colony, but after the first three attacks were repelled by the excellent military satellites Arthur had hijacked, they declared that they were cutting off supplies and trade to the colony, and that it would have to fend for itself. By then Emma Green's son had managed to get his father's system in operation on a massive scale, and the colony was in no danger of starving or running out of air. As for the trade blockade, the Alliance cut off all movement of people between Alpha and the other colonies, but they couldn't stop the trade between the colonies, which was mostly accomplished by drones, and they didn't stop the other colonies from trading with Earth, so the blockade was essentially meaningless.   
  
There was an underground rumor in the colony that Rina Krace, the ambassador's daughter, was a bigger player in the Rebels than the Alliance had let anyone know, but so far those were just unconfirmed rumors. Those rumors would be confirmed as people from Refuge started mixing with the people who lived in Alpha colony. Already there was talk of expanding Refuge so that people wouldn't live in constant danger of dome collapse. Rina heartily approved.   
  
They'd given Dr. Andrews the option of returning to Earth or staying on Alpha colony. He'd decided to stay, perhaps trying to make up for the years he'd spent working for the Alliance. He was working for Dr. Green, for now, learning all he could about the food system. It was about as far from psychology as he could get, and he seemed satisfied with that.  
  
The one dark spot in all the celebration was the news that Commander Laskin had escaped from where the Rebels had been holding him, and couldn't be found anywhere in the colony. Somehow he'd managed to convince the guard that he was trying to commit suicide, and knocked out the man when he opened the door. They were assuming that he had snuck onto one of the transports to Earth with the common soldiers. The thought of him out there somewhere, working for the Alliance, made Rina very uneasy.  
  
  
-----------  
  
  
A few weeks later, as the sun was setting, Rina sat in the living room with her father, the five boys, Julia, and Mike. She decided it was time to broach a difficult topic. "Father, I think I'm going to have to leave."  
  
He stared at her, then nodded. "I expected as much. You can't really live here anymore, can you?"  
  
"People in the streets know my face. It's disturbing, and I'll never have any privacy or peace, especially once everyone knows that I'm the Phoenix. Besides, I've been a Rebel for so long, I don't know what I'd do with my free time."  
  
"You can't leave now!" Mike exclaimed. "Not when we've finally won!"  
  
"Where are you going to go?" Julia asked. She'd never become completely comfortable with the things that Rina and the boys had done, but she was slowly coming to terms with the idea.  
  
"Well, all access to the other colonies from here is blocked right now. But we're still shipping loads of Alliance soldiers and agents back to Earth. The six of us," she glanced around. "...are either going to go down there to work with Rebels on the Earth, or we might hop a ride to one of the other colonies. We haven't decided yet." She snaked her arm around Arthur's waist. They'd become very close in the last few weeks, almost a couple. It was a very good feeling. Arthur hadn't gotten around to talking about it, yet, but she thought that he would, eventually.  
  
"I can't believe you're just going to go!" Mike exclaimed.   
  
"We can't stay," Heero said. "The way they designed us, we can't just be sitting around resting. We've got to be doing something. I don't know about the rest of you, but I've been going crazy with boredom in the last few weeks." He favored them with a rare smile. He still didn't show much emotion, but at least he admitted that he had them now. Rina was determined to get him to laugh sometime in the next five years. Now that might be more difficult than ousting the Alliance had been.  
  
"Yeah, I know what you mean," Herc said. "Besides, there's so much to do on Earth! There's a lot to see!"  
  
"If we have to fight, we might as well be doing it for a good cause," Arthur commented, and Kan and Michael nodded agreement.  
  
"When do you leave?" her father asked.  
  
"Two or three days. I'll find some way to stay in touch," Rina assured her father.  
  
"I'm sure you will," he said, smiling at her. Rina smiled back and leaned into the corner of the couch she and Arthur were sitting on. A feeling of contentment spread over her, and she enjoyed it while it lasted, before the urge to continue started to push her forward again. She was happier now than she could ever remember being before, and now she had her entire life in front of her.  
  
  
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TRANSCRIPT OF TRANSMISSION FROM BASE 001  
STATUS: SECURITY LEVEL 1  
DATE: 22.34.22  
TOPIC: LAST TRANSMISSION FROM BASE 001  
  
  
A: We're under attack! We're under attack from Rebel forces! I repeat, Alpha headquarters is falling... [transmission cut off]  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Well, there's the end of that story. It clocks in at around 160 typed pages, around 130,000 words. I actually wrote the first draft of this in about two weeks -I didn't see my family for that time period, even though they tried to coax me away from the computer - and then edited it over several months, gaining about forty pages in the process.   
Hope everyone enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!  
Marika :) 


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